Yin
by Gemini Star01
Summary: Sequel to Harry Potter and the DigiFrontier After a year of somewhat normal life, the Hogwarts Transfers are startled when several old friends apear with some bad news. Now there is Black Magic in Shibuya, and Kouichi is hiding a possibly dangerous secret
1. Prologue: Friendship

This prologue isn't the greatest thing in the world...but the story itself is something that popped into my mind as I read _The Half Blood Prince_ just after it came out. It just sort've...formed itself, so now, here it is...The SEQUEL to _Harry Potter and the Digimon Frontier_! I hope you all like it!

TIMELINE (IMPORTANT) - Since the original _HP/DF _took place during Harry's sixth year, for the sake of this story the events of _The Half Blood Prince _happened in seventh year. Just…trust me, this'll be interesting. Very interesting.

Since the original took place during Harry's sixth year, for the sake of this story the events of happened in seventh year. Just…trust me, this'll be interesting. Very interesting.

Warnings: Er…nothing, really. Friendship. A lot of it. And some intense fighting, but other than that…nothing.

****

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy.

Yin

Prologue: Friendship

It was pouring down rain.

Well, that's all you could really say about the Shibuya area of Tokyo at the moment. Almost all activity had ground to a halt in lieu of the impossibly thick curtain of rain. One would be hard pressed to see their own hand in front of their face, and not a soul would be out on the streets in this kind of maelstrom.

That is, none except for one young man who stood on the sidewalk outside of Shibuya shrine, slightly concealed beneath a dark umbrella as he gathered rain water in a large wooden bucket.

His smiling face was young enough that many would not call the young figure a man. Indeed, though he was eighteen and therefore legally of-age in many different contexts of the term, his large, doe-like blue eyes made him look much younger than he was, to the extent that some would swear he had not yet reached the age of fifteen. His hair was just a centimeter less than shoulder-length, dark and shaggy, falling over his face in a kind yet mysterious manner. In one hand he supported a dark blue umbrella, the other holding out a wooden bucket that had previously held a large amount of sake, carefully collecting rain water with calculating eyes.

He was dressed a bit strangely for this time period, a long, flowing robe with wide sleeves, a white top half tied beneath a pair of gray-blue pants. It was the garb of feudal Japan, but as this was the Tokyo of the mid-21st century, anyone who would have seen him, if they could, would have told you that he was a priest. Or, more accurately, he was a priest's apprentice, in training to reach his full rank.

His name?

Kimura Kouichi.

Kouichi was humming slightly to himself as he carefully watched the lines marking the edge of the bucket. Fresh, perfectly clean rain of the season's first monsoon, intermittently laced with the power of Susano-o himself. It would be the perfect base for healing salves and power-enhancing potions, increasing their effectiveness ten fold…

"I think that should be enough for now, Kouichi-kun."

The young man jumped a foot, nearly dropping the rain water he had been collecting, and turned quickly to face his teacher. Hakaishi-sensei was half a foot taller than him, holding a smaller back umbrella over his own head. His long ponytail mostly gray now, though there were several long, thin streaks of black still poking through. His deep brown eyes shone as he smiled at his apprentice warmly.

"Are you sure, Sensei?" Kouichi asked, turning to his teacher. "There's still a lot of room left, and it's not going to let up anytime…"

"If we wait any longer we won't be able to carry it in!" Hakaishi laughed, taking the handle of the bucket in one hand and leading the younger man up the steps of the shrine. "Now come on inside. Your mother will never forgive me if you catch cold on my watch."

Kouichi smiled, helping his teacher carry the water into the main shrine, setting it beside a number of glass bottles meant to store it. He had contracted with the shrine almost immediately after graduating from high school and finishing his wizarding training. It hadn't taken much time at all, and after only a few months he was already more at home than he had been in years.

"By the way, Kouichi." Hakaishi spoke, lighting a few of the incense candles around the wide, rice-papered room. "The crows are acting unusually smug. I take it you haven't heard back from that friend of yours in England yet, have you?"

"…No." Kouichi's soft whisper was tinged with worry. He had kept contact with Draco Malfoy for over a year now, ever since the exchange program to Hogwarts had ended. However, Draco had not written back in going on two months now, and Kouichi was growing very concerned.

Actually, this new development was just increasing his anxiety. Even before the sudden drop of communication, his blonde friend's letters had become increasingly shorter and more desperate. Kouichi had previously expressed his worries to his teacher…that his friend had gotten himself into some sort of trouble, something big.

"…I see." Hakaishi sighed, sitting down beside his stay-hot tea set, his legs folded easily beneath him on the zabuton. He poured both himself and his apprentice a cup of steaming hot green tea, taking a long, thoughtful sip himself. "Have you consulted the Kami about your worries?"

Kouichi nodded, settling in opposite of his teacher. Kami were, of course, the center focus of any Shinto priest's life. Part of him liked to believe that the fire-and-mirrors-style Divination practiced by the shrine was more accurate than the Western versions his brother had learned, but part of him was starting to have doubts.

"What did you see?"

"…Nothing." Kouichi whispered quietly, taking a sip of his own tea. "Just…shadows. I couldn't tell what they were."

"Hm…" Hakaishi nodded softly, closing his eyes a moment in thought. There was a long stretch of silence before he set down his cup again. "Well…There's no point in worrying. If something happens, you can deal with it when the time comes."

"I know." Kouichi sighed, a slightly pained look on his face. "It's just that I…I…"

He was suddenly cut off by a loud _CRACK_ from outside, and it wasn't thunder.

Both student and master were instantly on alert, wands snapped out from their respective hiding places within folds of cloth. Hakaishi was on his feet first, Kouichi rising into a crouched low position as his teacher made the way to the sliding paper doors.

"Kouichi, stay back." Hakaishi warned softly, bracing his hand on the edge of the door. The apprentice didn't have to be told twice, as any wizard with three years of experience would recognize the sound of Apparation.

For a moment the two held their positions, then Hakaishi whipped the door open and bared his wand, aiming into the darkness like a samurai with his sword.

The only thing unusual outside was an unsteady, unfamiliar breathing and some very heavy footsteps. With another crash, this one accompanied by the huge flash of a lightening bolt, the slim-built figure was illuminated with a blaze of white-blonde hair.

Kouichi drew in a sharp breath. "Draco-kun!" He exclaimed, racing forward.

The blonde gave him an unsteady, uncharacteristically unrefined smirk. "Hn… Kimura. Do you know…how long it took…to track you down?"

He wavered unsteadily. Kouichi pushed past his master just in time to catch the foriegner as he fell forward. "Draco-kun!" Kouichi gasped, shaking him lightly. "Draco-kun! What happened? What're you doing here?"

"Shut up…already…" Malfoy muttered softly, closing his eyes again and resting his head on the apprentice's shoulder. "I don't need…your sympathy…"

Hakaishi waved his wand. The now-limp Malfoy was suddenly light, enabling Kouichi to pull him into the shrine. The teacher the conjured up a futon, where Kouichi tucked his friend in worriedly.

Now in the soft light of the shrine, the British boy looked awful. His white-blonde hair was matted and crusted with blood, blue eyes puffy and bloodshot, pale skin covered in bruises, cuts and burns, his robes, usually so perfectly pristine and orderly, had been reduced to tattered rags that barely clung to his thin form.

Kouichi brushed the blonde hair back from his friend's eyes. He looked up at Hakaishi-sensei with an almost desperate gaze. "Sensei…What's happening?"

"I don't know." Hakaishi whispered softly, conjuring a fire beneath a small caldron to prepare a healing salve for the boy's injuries. He tapped the edge of the potion with his wand, turning it a soft pink color. "But we'll figure out. Don't you worry, we'll help him…"

****

TBC…

Sorry, short prologue. I just wanted to throw this in before I got the actual story up and running, to get the basics laid out. I apologize if the ending sucked. I know it was pretty…short. It'll pick up in Chapter 1. I swear.


	2. Following the Trail

Gag…I'll be honest. The prologue for this…I needed it, to start things off, but it's not going to lead into the other chapters. That's why it's a prologue. But for some reason, when I posted it, I felt sick to my stomach…I don't even know why…I hope you guys liked it. This next chapter begins about two week after the prologue. (And who said Draco and Kouichi could understand each other? Notice, they never actually answered each other's questions. Everything they said could be assumed.)

Oh, and for the one who asked…Yugure (Kouichi's cat from Diagon Alley) stays at home with his mother. Kouichi is still living at home, to support her, but spends a good chunk of his time at the Shrine, which is where he'll be seen more often than not. You'll see Tomoko and Yugure eventually, don't worry.

Please check out my new website: www . geocities . com / musecomedythalia . html It's all about an original story I've been working on and…well, please go look. Please? (Don't forget to remove the spaces)

**__**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy.

****

Yin

Chapter 1: Following The Trail

Wizarding travel between countries could be very…interesting.

That thought seamed lodged in Harry Potter's mind as he stumbled haphazardly out of the Tokyo Airport. His best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, stumbled out behind them, each looking similarily unsteady. Of course, they hadn't traveled over Muggle air, seeing as none of them had the money to pay for such a thing. However, the airport was the unloading location for the Wizarding equivalent…A train that none of them could satisfactory explain exactly how it had traveled across vast distances of ocean, seeing as they slept through the whole thing.

"Well, this is it." Hermione sighed, digging around in her backpack as the trio started out into the huge, steel city. "Tokyo, Japan."

"Uh, yeah." Ron looked around blankly, rubbing one eye and stretching his back, still sore from the nine-hour train ride. "It's kinda…crowded, ain't it?"

Harry, shaking himself a bit, was apt to agree. From the moment they had stepped out of the airport, he and his friends were almost instantly lost in the throng of people moving around. Of course, it wasn't particularly easy to loose them…though they were all wearing normal Muggle clothing, they were also at least half a head taller than anyone else around them. Not to mention, Ron's red hair stood out like a beacon in the sea of blacks and browns.

"Of course it's crowded, Ron!" Hermione snapped, one hand still deep in her bag. "This is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, Muggle or not!"

"So there are…our kind…around here somewhere, right?" Harry asked, pulling up the straps of his own backpack. Each of the three had one, a gift from Bill Weasley after they had stopped by for his marriage to Fleur Declore. There was a charm on them, something Bill had called 'Hammerspace' which allowed infinite numbers of things to be stored within each one.

"Of course there are." Hermione closed her eyes with a thoughtful grin. "You haven't forgotten the Transfers, now have you?"

Despite himself, Harry smiled. Truth be told, they had come to Japan on a lead from one of Charlie's contacts…something about a pen that had belonged to Ravenclaw being seen for sale in a wizarding back-alley…but they had decided this would be the best place to find allies. At least, he hoped they still thought him allies…they hadn't exactly kept close contact after his sixth year…

Hermione suddenly disappeared within one of the smaller buildings, presumably to get the curancey traded out, leaving Harry and Ron to hover outside. Harry took a moment to look at his reflection in the poished glass of the window.

He barely recognized himself. The skinny little boy who had wandered uncertainly onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters his first year was long gone, replaced by a much taller, much stronger, and much more…depressed-looking young man. Evenings full of nightmares and days full of futile searches had taken their toll. He kept up a strong face, if only for Ginny, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley and the others, but he still held the slightly drawn, weary look that usually adored Professor Lupin's face. It was…strange, to see it in the mirror. Very strange.

Glancing at Ron, he noted that his friend had also changed. Still tall and lanky, he had resisted cutting his hair and was growing it out vaguely like Bill's, except that he choose to leave it undone. There was the barest edge of a mustache under his nose, but that was only because he hadn't taken the time to shave or use a hair-removal charm for their two days of traveling. There were slightly shadowed bags under his eyes, making him look tired…and he was. The two friends had sworn to follow Harry everywhere he went in his search for Voldemort's horcuxes, but it had taken its toll on them both… Ron was having nightmares, too.

Hermione had come out the best of their little trio. Now smaller than both the boys, she had filled out into a strikingly pretty young woman. Her hair had grown quite a bit, now almost down to her waist, smoothed somewhat but still holding its curl. If she was having nightmares, she wasn't showing it, not in her posture, in her figure or in her appearance… though Harry had noticed she'd been staying up later and later every night, loosing herself between the pages of a vast number of books.

Harry sighed, turning around to lean against the window so he didn't have to look at himself. He'd promised Dumbledore that he'd find the other four Horcuxes, and he knew he had to even if he hadn't promised. It was his destiny. But he wished he didn't have to drag his friends into this, too…

"There we go." Hermione sighed, coming out of the doors with a small 'ding' and a long, leather-covered box. "All set, then."

"With what?" Ron asked, straightening. "And what is that?"

Hermione opened the box. Inside were four small, golden hoops…one small and set as a two-pair, the others a tad bit bigger and separate from each other. "They're modified forms of the translation charms the transfers used." She explained, removing the pair and slipping one into her (non-pierced) ear. "We won't be able to speak English anymore, but we'll hear, read and speak in Japanese instead."

"What's the use of that?" Ron raised an eyebrow, picking up one of the larger rings in curiosity.

"It's either this or wander around deaf and blind." Hermione snapped, and slipped the second one in. The next thing out of her mouth was a string of Japanese sylabols neither of the boys could understand.

Harry took the remaining earring, glancing at Ron with an incredulous look. "One…?"

"Two…" The redhead nodded.

"Three!"

They clicked the earrings in at the same time, and instantly the chatter around them started to make some sort of sense. Harry blinked, looking around in confusion, and glanced up to realize that they were currently wandering around someplace called… Shinjuku? Where was that? Were they still in Tokyo?

"Okay…are we ready to go now?" Ron asked, holding his stomach slightly. "I'm hungry for something that's not fish. Or seaweed. Or raw."

Hermione sniffed slightly as they started off down the ever-crowded street. "Good luck trying that. We're in an _island_ country, Ron. Most of what they eat is fish."

Harry blinked ahead of them, at something red, white and green with strange letters…something in his mind said _katakana_…written across it. "Hey…" He mentioned, pointing at it. "I think that's an Italian place. At least…That's what I think it says."

After a moment of debate, they concluded that it was, indeed, an Italian place, and, as it was the only shop on the block that didn't smell distinctly of fish and/or smoked meat, they made their way inside.

"Irrashaimasu!" Called a perky voice as the hostess bowed. Her long, blonde hair stood out suddenly from the sea of blacks and browns they had just been in, hiding her face until she straightened with a bright smile. "Welcome to Orimoto's Italli…Oh, goodness!"

Her eyes widened, showing them to be bright blue, framed very nicely by her long, blonde hair. Her skin was a tad bit lighter than the other people's, her accent just a tad bit different than the crowd's had been. She was dressed mostly in purple, a cute-girl style of knee-high skirts and belly-showing shirts, but it was mostly hidden by the red, white and green apron, embroidered with the store's name and logo.

"Potter! Weasley! Granger!"

For a moment the group gaped at her. Then Hermione spoke. "Ori…Orimoto?"

"Yeah!" Izumi Orimoto smiled broadly, coming up to stand a bit closer to them. "Oh, wow! This is unbelievable! I haven't heard from you guys in ages! What on Earth are you doing in Japan?"

"Well, it's a…long story." Harry muttered lamely, but he was smiling. Though part of him was wondering who the hell it was that kept throwing in people he'd been thinking about lately into the mix.

Izumi eyed them suspiciously a second, then smiled. "Well, you can tell us later!" She said brightly, turning. "Come on, let me get you seat."

The restaurant was almost empty, but one would only assume this was because it was three in the afternoon. Orimoto led the group over to a booth near one of the shop's wide window, showing the view of the street, and laying several menus out in front of them. "Taku-kun!" She called out toward the kitchen. "Oi! Table's up!"

"I'm comin', I'm comin'!" A voice came from beyond the door. A moment later, the kitchen door clacked open, revealing a thin, tanned young man with bright, sparkling brown eyes and a perpetually smiling face. A yellow baseball cap rested on his head, adored with square-shaped goggles, a notepad and pen in his hands.

"Okay then." He rattled off, not quite looking at them as he scribbled something down. "What can I get you guys…Woah!"

Harry grinned broadly and shook hands with a very stunned-looking Takuya Kanbara, who almost instantly forgot the order and started off with a rapid stream of hellos and questions.

Once Takuya was calmed down (and the order was taken and sent to the kitchens, much to Ron's delight) it was silently and unanimously decided that a little catching up was in order. Since there was no one else around, both Takuya and Izumi felt more than free to simply hang around the trio's table, Takuya standing and Izumi pulling out a chair to sit on.

"So you both work here now?" Hermione asked, turning her head and indicating the restaurant.

"Yup. This is Izumi's dad's place." Takuya grinned, pointing to the name 'Orimoto' on the front of the apron. "He hired me part-time right after I got out of high school. It pays the bills on my apartment, and keeps a decent front up with the Muggles all at once."

"But I thought your father was a wizard, Izumi." Harry mentioned, raising an eyebrow.

"He is." Izumi nodded cutely. "This is his front job, partially because it's required, and partially because he just loves cooking _Italiano_. He actually works for our Counsel. Department of Broom Safety."

Ron screwed his face up in confusion. "Required?"

"Yeah, everybody's gotta have some sort of Muggle front-job, even if it's a fake." Takuya's grin widened slightly. "I'm still in training for my real work. I'm going into the Magical Games and Sports area, as a Quidditch Coach for the younger kids…"

"…Not to mention that little-league soccer team you've been working with." Izumi giggled, and Takuya grinned even wider. Ron shook his head in dismay…he'd never really seen the point of soccer, despite all of Dean's vehemence for the sport.

Harry, on the other hand, grinned, as did Hermione as she turned to Izumi again. "What about you, Orimoto? What're you doing?"

"I'll be taking over Papa's shop when he retires." Izumi explained, slipping off the chair and smoothing out her skirt. "But I'm going into the Games and Sports department, too. The Department of Broom Construction and Approval to Charm Committee. I'm a tester."

"Nice." Harry grinned, possibly the only person at the table to catch exactly what that meant. Becoming a tester meant you got to try out each new broom that came down the line, and while this could be dangerous, he was more than certain that Orimoto (who could rattle off facts about a broom construction as well or better than any manufacturer he'd ever met) wouldn't have a problem handling even the most poorly-assembled broom.

Izumi flashed him a bright smile as Takuya stood to get the group's orders. Seconds later there were several plates of steaming hot noodles and sauce waiting to be devoured in front of the three British Wizards, who suddenly realized how hungry they were.

"Well, don't let us keep you." Izumi gave them a slight bow, tucking her hair behind her shoulder so as not to get it in their meal. "Dig in! And if you don't mind waiting about half an hour for our shift to be up, Takuya and I can show you around a bit. Get you used to the town, right, Taku-kun?"

"I dunno…" Takuya fake-pouted a moment, as though he was thinking hard. "There's a big match down in Tamachi-ku this afternoon. I kinda wanted to scope out the competition…"

Izumi pouted just a little, and Harry had to admit that she had kept her teenage cuteness very well and certainly knew how to use it effectively. She came up to Takuya, batting her eyelashes fetchingly and putting a hand on his arm.

"Well, I'm sure I could make it worth your while…" She said semi-adorably, and leaned up to kiss the boy on the lips.

Ron spat out some of his drink for laughing and Hermione started to giggle. Harry could see the heat rising up through Takuya's face, turning him ever so slightly red as his muscles tensed one by one. Then they all relaxed at once with a satisfied, "Whew!" which left Takuya grinning very broadly. "Okay, I'm in."

"Good boy." Izumi smiled up at him, patting his arm. "Now go get the kitchen cleaned up before Papa fires you."

"Yes ma'am!" Takuya saluted brightly, and sped off for the task.

Izumi turned and grinned at the British wizards brightly. "We got together the end of our senior year." She said by way of explanation, turning her head slightly with a sigh. "Junpei nearly had a heart attack, but it's all worked out now."

The door opened with a ding and she went to greet the new customers.

**__**

TBC…

Heh heh…I couldn't help it. I rather like Takumi, and it was just toooo cute a scene not to use! I can just see Izumi having 'Taku-kun' twisted around her little finger…although, all things considered, he was probably expecting that reaction and did it for the selfsame reason…

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Irrashaimasu - Basically, 'Welcome to the shop' or 'Welcome to my business'. What you (the waiter/shopkeeper/stock boy/etc.) say to the customer when they enter your place of employment.


	3. Finding Friends

I got into a wreck at 70 mph on the way home from school today. It was just a clip, no one was hurt, but the back end of my car was totaled and I'm pretty shook up…so if anything's weird about the end of this chapter…sorry…damn West Texas rain…

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy.

****

Yin

Chapter 2: Finding Friends

The teenagers in the photograph smiled up at him, waving brightly. There were six of them total, four holding a black tube, which Izumi explained held their high-school diplomas. Though each student wore a slightly different variation of a school uniform, they were all glowing, two of them giving their eager congratulations. As he watched, the smallest of them tripped suddenly and fell, knocking two of the others over as the dove to catch him.

"So this is when you graduated?" Hermione asked, leaning back into her seat as Harry handed the wizarding photo back to Izumi.

"Yup!" Izumi smiled brightly and slipped the photograph back into her purse. "Even though all of us went to different schools, we all got together to celebrate."

Harry turned slightly in his seat to look out the window. They were currently riding on of the monorail-like trains that connected one part of Tokyo with another. According to what they could read and hear from the signs and signals, Takuya and Izumi were taking them to Shibuya, where they had been trained as wizards…and, apparently, where a decent fraction of their six-man group still lived.

"Where's everyone at?" Harry asked, turning back to the group. He was sitting between Ron and Takuya, which Izumi and Hermione took the seats attached to the wall ahead of them.

Takuya, leaning back in the seat, raised an eyebrow. "Whattya mean?"

"The others. Where're they all working?"

"Oh, that. Let's see…" Takuya grinned again, counting off on his fingers. "Well, Junpei shipped off for Hokkaido about a month ago. He's working with the Magi-Technological division. He's supposed to be studying up on the combination of magic with handheld machines, but I think he's really looking into…you know."

Harry nodded and grinned, remembering Takuya's 'hot-headed' Digimon form, Agunimon, tossing Voldemort across the main hall of Malfoy Manor. It was one of the memories he'd kept filed away for darker days, and he'd been referring to it quite a bit lately.

"Kouji-kun's working at a kendo dojo, as an assistant." Izumi added, smiling cutely. "Not to mention, he's entered training for the Exorcism Squad."

"The _what_?" Hermione, Harry and Ron spoke all at once.

"Well, their full title is the Demonic Manifestations and Incident Response Team, subdivision of Department of Magical Defense." Izumi rattled off, almost too brightly. "But most people call them the Exorcism Squad, since that's basically what they do."

Ron made an uncertain noise. "Exorcism?"

"You know, chasing out demons." Takuya grinned, as though thinking about it. "They're a team of hunters that track down demons that cause too much trouble and get rid of them. Like a combination of Aurors and the Department for Control of Magical Creatures."

Hermione looked confused as well. "There isn't a department like that in our Ministry!"

"They probably don't need it." Mentioned Izumi, and Takuya nodded.

"Yeah…Japan's crawling with demons, way more than ." The goggle head nodded. "Not just Kappa, but demon foxes, cats and raccoon dogs are huge problems, since they're tricksters and Muggles can see their illusions. And they're smart, too, especially foxes."

Harry whistled. "Wow." He whispered, but was cut off.

_"Attention passengers_._"_ A woman's voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker. _"We are now arriving at Shibuya Station."_

Ron craned around to look out the window as the car pulled up to the platform. "So…where're we going?"

"Shibuya Shrine." Izumi winked. "It's where we took our wizarding training courses."

"But why there?" Hermione asked, glancing up from her guidebook.

"Well…" Takuya shrugged. "Tomoki's there for training this afternoon. He's still got two years until he graduates, after all."

"And Kouichi-kun signed on as Hakaishi-san's apprentice as soon as he had the chance." Izumi nodded, standing. "Remember we told you he wanted to be a priest? He's in training now, but he's doing great."

"And Kouji gets off of _his_ training soon, too." Added Takuya as the train came to a stop. "He usually walks Kouichi home on Fridays so he can have dinner with the family."

A blast of steam appeared outside the window a few moments before the doors opened up. Takuya jumped off excitedly onto the platform, followed by Izumi as the trio tried to keep up.

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Shibuya shrine was small, but beautiful.

Harry knew that, somehow, though he wasn't really sure how. The stairs leading up to it were plain and simple, as was the building itself. There were a few small things scattering the outside…a large tree with paper dangling from it, a small stand selling good-luck charms, and a well…but there wasn't much more than the medium-sized, decorative building that made up the shrine and covered its inner sanctum.

It wasn't much, but it was impressive.

"Wow…" Hermione whispered, gazing up at the huge tree. "It's so beautiful!"

"Isn't it?" Izumi grinned, her hands tucked behind her back. "That's the way of the Shinto, decorative yet balanced."

"We probably shouldn't go in yet." Takuya muttered, checking his watch. "There's still a few minutes until training lets out. We'd better wait."

Harry suppressed the urge to whistle, as somehow it didn't seam quite respectful. He restrained himself to wandering across the path slightly, looking around at the beautifully calm décor of the shrine…

A flash of white clashing with dark caught his eye, moving his head off to the side. He grinned, recognizing a familiar tuff of bluish-black hair, framing a rather effeminate face with big, doe-like blue eyes. "Hey, there!" He called suddenly. "Kimura…"

Takuya suddenly appeared from behind him, clapping his hands over his mouth. "Shuuuuush."

"He's concentrating." Izumi added softly, a finger to her lips.

It was true…Kouichi did seam to be intently focused on something a short ways away from him. After a moment he raised a bow, keeping his arms taunt behind the limp white sleeves of his robe. There was an arrow set on the string that he pulled it tight. He held it a moment, releasing it suddenly to streak across and burry itself in the straw target.

"Nice shot." Ron announced, before the others could shush him.

Kouichi turned and smiled at the group, lowering the bow. He smiled when he saw the others and motioned them over. "Is that really you, Potter? Weasley? Granger?"

"Yeah!" Harry grinned, and shook hands with the former Slytherin transfer. Kouichi had grown, naturally, and didn't look quite as…well, sickly, as he always had at Hogwarts.

Hermione smiled, bowing to Kouichi before shaking his hand. "You don't seam surprised." She noticed.

"It's the archery." Izumi piped up. "It's happened before. He totally zones out while he's doing that, and it takes a little while for his emotions to get back on track."

"I'm not _that_ bad." Kouichi laughed pleasantly to show it was a joke, and Harry noticed that his voice had deepened a bit as well. "Besides, you know as well as I do that I need to practice…"

Ron, who had wandered down to the other end of the field, suddenly shouted and leapt back, clutching his hand. "Bloody hell!" He shrieked, holding his singed right hand as the blue sparks faded from around the arrow.

The group raced up, Kouichi at the head with rapid apologies. "Are you all right?" He gasped slightly, examining Ron's hand. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you. The arrows, they have charms on them, for long-range spells. This one's a sealing charm, to lock doors and things so demons can't get into them…"

"'S'all right." Ron shrugged, still a little miffed, but more curious as Hermione magically iced his burn. "But I thought the demon thing was your brother's bit."

"Everyone with magic learns a bit of defense." Came a new voice from behind, deeper and more stern than the others. "_Especially_ the shrine-keepers."

Harry jumped, as did Ron, Hermione and Takuya. Kouichi remained calm with a sort of knowing smirk, while Izumi, who had been looking in the opposite direction, smiled broadly and waved. "Hey Kouji!"

The British Wizards spun around to find Kouichi's twin making his way towards them. He was dressed in a blue T-shirt, long navy jacket and white pants that looked like they belonged to a martial arts outfit. The bandana he'd worn through most of their sixth year was tied around the base of the wooden sword he carried cocked over one shoulder. The jacket had silver kanji on the inside lining reading 'Yokai no Shii'…which the charm translated into 'Demon's Death'.

"So, you three are in town." He quipped simply, a very familiar smirk on his lips. "This should be interesting."

"Cripes, mate." Ron gasped, putting a hand to his chest. "Couldn't you at least say 'Hello' or something?"

"Fine: Hi." Kouji rolled his eyes sarcastically.

Kouichi was the only one who laughed. Izumi got it, but she just shook her head, and Takuya just smirked with a muttering of 'typical Kouji'. Harry cracked a smile.

"Should you be wearing your uniform in broad daylight like this?" Izumi asked, cocking her head off to one side.

"Don't have a lot of choice." Kouji spun the wooden sword around in his hand a minute. "I have to wear it for training, or the _sempai_ gets pissed. And she's nasty when she's pissed."

Kouichi smiled, wrapping his hand in the cloth of his robe to grip the arrow safely. "Worse than usual?"

"_Way_ worse."

Harry tried to imagine Kouji's sensei and came up with someone rather like Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch in the same body, which was a very entertaining thought and made him laugh.

"So…Why is it important for shrines to have defenses?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The magic training attracts some of the smarter demons." Kouji rattled off.

"Not to mention, some try to set themselves up as Kami and trick people into working for them." added Izumi.

"And all the Muggles around add in their own energy subconsciously with their prayers and wish-making." Takuya piped helpfully.

"We get it, we get it!" Ron exclaimed, holding his head as though developing a rather strong migraine. "Yee-ow! It's _that_ dangerous in a place like _this?_"

"It all depends on your prospective." Kouichi whispered softly, and gave Kouji a very sweet smile. When Kouji returned it, a tad bit more subtly, Harry got the idea that there was more to his career choice than met the eye.

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the ringing of a bell. The rice-paper doors to the main shrine swung open, ushering in the appearance of two dozen students ranging from twelve to eighteen, all dressed in various school uniforms and stuffing wands into their bags as they ran.

"Hey, guys!" A skinny boy with brown hair called. He was wearing a dark blue uniform, with black buttons and lining on the turned-up sleeves and pants legs.

"Tomoki-kun!" Izumi cheered, waving him over. The boy, whom Harry remembered being rather short, had grown quite a bit and was now about the same size as the others. He laughed and grinned, being greeted by his friends brightly.

"You guys never come to see me anymore!" He whined a bit, pouting even though he kept a grin in his eyes. "You're always busy working, I never get to see you!"

"Hey, you see Kouichi all the time!" Takuya protested.

"Leave me out of this." The priest-in-training sighed, packing his archery equipment back into its sheaf.

Hermione felt the need to speak up. "Everybody's always busy right after the get their first job. Things'll slow down soon."

Tomoki jumped a foot, spinning around to face them. "Granger!" He exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. "Potter! Weasley! What're you guys _doing_ here?"

"You know, come to think of it…" Takuya seamed to think for a moment, glancing up at the leaves of the tree. "You never did tell us that. What _are_ you doing here?"

Harry's smile vanished, along with Ron's laughing smirk and Hermione's thoughtful confidence. The three British wizards glanced at each other pensively and said nothing, causing the five oriental ones around them to give them some very odd and rather concerned looks.

"…Did something happen?" Kouichi asked gently, standing and slipping the quiver over his shoulder.

"Must've been bad." Tomoki whispered, eyes wide. "You guys don't look so well. Have you been sick?"

"No, we're not sick." Hermione sighed, closing her eyes sleepily. "We're just tired."

Kouji raised an eyebrow, his grip changing ever so slightly on the handle of his sword. "So what is it?"

Harry sighed, closing his eyes a moment. Very slowly, he collected all of the courage he'd need to explain everything and sighed. "Okay…Sit down. This will take a while."

**__**

TBC…

Many Shinto shrines are so small they don't even have a priest. They're simply attended to by the townsfolk and traveling monks. Others are large and monitored by a generational family of priests. Shinto Shrine is something in-between.

In many cases, Shinto priesthood is passed down from father to son through a family, but anyone can become a priest. Since Hakaishi has no children and isn't married, he's sort of…well, 'adopted' Kouichi as his apprentice. (Kouichi treats him like a father anyway, seeing as his own…yeah, you remember.)

Sempai - Upperclassman, superior at work. (In Kouji's case, she's a senior member of the Exorcism Squad who is in charge of training some of the 'new recruits'. I'm not sure if she'll appear, but I get the vuage feeling that she's about 32 and is skilled enough to have cleaned Kouji's clock once or twice to get him to listen to her.)


	4. No Change

Two things. One, my muse lied to me about the chapters. I have no idea how long this will go, just that it won't be 40 chapters like the last one. Maybe 10. Maybe 15.

Two, some people appear to be confused. This story takes place in August after Harry and the rest of the Trio 'graduated' (cough cough) at the end of June. The Transfers, on the other hand, graduated from high school in March like the rest of Japan, (the Japanese school year goes from April to March, in that order) so they've had several more months to set up in their various places of employment.

And this chapter contains MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. If you are one who has not read the book then I am sorry, but the rest of the chapters have HUGE spoilers in them. So, if you're like me and don't care, for all means, read on. If you don't want to spoil the surprise, then stop here and enjoy the book first. Remember, this one is only a fan fic, not the real thing…

**__**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy.

****

Yin

Chapter 3: No Change

"No…way."

Harry nodded grimly, staring pointedly at a blade of grass near his right foot. He didn't want to see the five oriental wizards gaping at him, open-mouthed with the shock of the events of his final year at Hogwarts. They hadn't mentioned any details about the Horcuxes, of course, only that they were 'looking for Voldemort's weakness', but everything else about…that night…had been told. Everything.

"I can't…believe it." Izumi whispered softly, looking down into her lap. "Dumbledore-sama is…dead?"

Hermione wiped a tear from her eye as Ron glanced away, like Harry, focusing on something else so the anger and tears wouldn't come again. Harry risked a glance upward at the five, to gauge their reactions.

Takuya was quietly staring just over Harry's left ear, his eyes glazed over and unfocused as though still working out the meaning of the words. Izumi had pulled her hands into her chest worriedly, staring down at her lap. Tomoki was open-mouthed, sprawled on the grass and trying to come up with something comforting to say. Kouji's grip on his sword was as intense as ever, leaning against the tree as he stared up into its boughs. Kouichi's rejoinder seamed, somehow, very priestly, as he folded his hands in a silent prayer for the dead.

Finally, Takuya spoke. "So that's what you're here for, right?" He asked gently. "Something Dumbledore asked you to do. That's the only reason I can think of for you guys to come all the way out here."

For some reason, his words made Harry smile just a little. One of the things he'd always remembered about Takuya was that, no matter how block-headed and stubborn he seamed, he was very perceptive of others. Harry guessed that's why he was the 'leader' of their six-man group.

"Yeah…" He sighed, shaking his head slowly. "We're…looking for something."

"Something like what?" Kouji asked bluntly.

"I bet it's got something to do with _Konton_." Izumi stressed the last word, glancing over her shoulder at a small group of second-year wizard students playing nearby.

Hermione looked up through her hair with a slightly mysterious air. "It's something like that."

Kouji gave her an incriminating look, but let it drop after exchanging glances with his brother. Tomoki then changed the subject, sensing himself that something was wrong, and they were soon quickly catching up on old times.

Despite himself, Harry was…happy, somehow. It was all so familiar, Tomoki's innocence, Izumi's bright personality, Kouji's blunt suspicion and Kouichi's kind-hearted silence. It had seamed so long since anyone he knew was exactly the way he remembered them, but these six…the Transfers, as they would always be in his mind…hadn't changed a bit.

"Well, it's getting late." Izumi sighed, standing and brushing off her skirt. "Where are you three staying?"

"Uh…" Ron's blank statement was echoed in the other's eyes.

"Lemme guess: 'You didn't think of that'." Kouji shook his head and smirked as though holding back laughter.

"Actually…yeah." Ron laughed awkwardly, and this time Takuya joined in. It was nice to hear a laugh that didn't sound somewhat forced.

"Hey, no problem, buddy." The goggle head grinned brightly, patting Ron on the back. "There's a couple of spare rooms at my parent's house. You and Potter can crash there, if you want."

"And we've got a spare futon at my house." Izumi said brightly, helping Hermione up. "I'm getting the idea you'd like a little time away from the boys, Granger-chan. You can stay with me, for a little girl time, you know?"

Hermione smiled at her. "Oh, thank you." She said brightly, bowing slightly. "It's really nice of you guys to help out like this."

"Hey, what're friends for?" Takuya grinned brightly, leaning back on his hands and making his way down the tall steps. Tomoki skipped along next to him, followed quickly by Izumi and Hermione, who were giggling.

Harry paused to turn back to the twins. "Aren't you two coming?"

"We'll be there." Kouji shrugged nonchalantly.

Kouichi just smiled, motioning to the sheaf over his shoulder, and to the priestly robes he was dressed in. "I have to put my equipment up. It wouldn't do to soil it, after all. Besides, I need to check in with…Hakaishi-san."

"Who?" Ron asked, blinking.

"My sensei." Kouichi smiled again and bowed. "I trust we'll see you tomorrow, Potter-kun? Weasley-kun?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry smiled, turning away. "Tomorrow."

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Kouji stood at the door of the temple, leaning against the wood. His budoken, the wooden sword, was held loosely in his hand, the tattered old remains of his favorite bandana tied loosely around the handle. His Squad jacket hung open, revealing the second line of silver kanji written along the right side. It was the old incantation of the priests: _Aku Ryu Tai San _… Evil Spirits Began

"…You didn't tell them." He said softly, keeping his gaze squarely on his sword.

"…No." Kouichi whispered, just as softly. He was on the other end of the room, behind a light screen, changing out of his robes and back into his normal street clothes. He undid the tie holding it together as he spoke, opening the top.

"And you haven't told Takuya. Or Izumi." Kouji tested his swing contemplatively. "Or anyone else. So it's just…the three of us who know?"

"Four." Kouichi corrected softly. "Hakaishi-san was here the night Draco-kun arrived."

Kouji 'hn'ed softly. He sighed, flipping the sword around to grip it differently. For a moment there was silence between the brothers, a light tickling of their ever-present connection brushing against each other.

_"I'm worried about you…"_

"There's nothing to worry about…"

"So how is he doing?" Kouji asked finally, taking a deep breath. "Your little houseguest, I mean."

Kouichi came out from behind the screen, fully-dressed and pulling a light jacket over his shoulders. "Draco-kun is fine. He's conscious now, and his wounds have healed enough for him to walk again soon."

Kouji turned as his brother started putting on his shoes. "Guess what he said was true, huh?"

"It matches Potter's story." Kouichi said softly. "He was ordered to kill Dumbledore, but couldn't do it. So Snape-sensei did it instead…"

"…What was the rest of it?"

"I'm not sure." Kouichi sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets as they made their way through the grounds of the temple.

"He still hasn't told you?"

"No."

Kouji sighed softly, tapping his sword against one of the sacred trees. There was a rustling noise as a small raccoon dropped from the branches and scrambled off into the streets of Shibuya. "I don't like that. He won't tell you how he got so hurt, how he got away from the Death Eaters, or why he decided to come to you. _And_, this is the slimy little creep who turned you in. I don't trust him."

"I do." Kouichi whispered softly. "He's my friend."

"That worries me, too." Kouji said simply, facing his brother with a slight frown. "You relate to him too much, Nii-san. He's not like you. You can't trust a creep like that."

"He trusts me." The elder twin shrugged. "Why else would he come to me for help?"

"Why else would he keep quiet about something like that?"

For a long, long while, they were in silence again. Then, Kouji sighed. "How's mom holding up?"

Kouichi had to smile. "She's doing fine. She loves having a poor little thing to mother and take care of. Sometimes I think she misses loving her sickly little boy."

Kouji cracked a smile, putting an arm around his brother's neck. "Well, of course, we know how long it's been since she's had one of _those_."

"Hey!" Kouichi grabbed his brother's arm and grinned playfully. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The two began play-fighting like a couple of puppies, wrestling in the empty sidewalk and not caring at all who might come along and see them. Naturally enough, being the one who's current trade lay in the combat area, Kouji soon had his brother pinned harmlessly against a stone wall, arms pulled around his back.

"Gotcha! I win"

"No fair…" Kouichi groaned, but he was laughing as he said it. He struggle a moment, but it was pretty useless. "Man, this is ridiculous. Are we nineteen or nine?"

"Does it matter? Our group's never grown up anyway!" Kouji laughed brightly, showing his brother a far more energetic side than most got to see. He let his brother go, helping him straighten a bit more steadily.

Kouichi smiled, stretching out one shoulder before taking his brother's hand. "Feeling better now?"

"Not hardly." Kouji sighed, shaking his head wordlessly, then started off down the street, pulling Kouichi along with him. "Come on. Mom'll get worried if we're too late."

**__**

TBC…

Kouji's Squad uniform is based on those of the gangsters that appear in some animes. Specifically, it's based on the Red Butterfly Suicide Squad jacket given to Arisa Uotani by Kyoko Honda in _Fruits Basket_. A more masculine version, of course, and for the Exorcism Squad. It seams perfect for Kouji, if you ask me.

You get to see Draco-kun again next time! But I don't know what else will happen. I know how I want it to end…it's the middle that's not so easy.


	5. Conversations

This story is getting hard to pace…It might be just a little while until it updates again, 'cause I know what I want to happen, but I'm not sure whether it would be wise to rush in to the action or hold back a little first…In other words, I'm stuck for a while…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 4: Conversations**

Draco Malfoy lay awake, staring at the ceiling blankly. This was not usually his occupation of choice, but right now he didn't really have a lot of them. Choices, I mean.

There was a stack of Japanese papers, mostly muggle newspapers and wizarding periodicals, sitting next to him with the encouragement to, 'read a bit, if he was bored'. A small gold earring he would not normally have worn was sitting in his ear, translating for him, both speech and text, so it would've been easy. Except that he wasn't interested.

As such, he reduced himself to laying on his back in the 'futon', staring blankly at the ceiling, breathing a bit heavily against the remains of several deep wounds across his chest and stomach. The healing had been slow, despite the priest-wizard who had been there the first night and Kimura's own training in the field. Draco wasn't too surprised. The Death Eaters would never allow one to escape with simple _muggle_ wounds…

There was a knock at the door. He turned his head to look. "…Come in."

The one who entered was Kimura, pushing it open with his shoulder and elbow as his hands were currently occupied by a large silver tray bearing a Japanese-style tea set. The large, black cat that almost acted as his familiar was at his feet, tail curled around his ankles as she meowed pleasantly.

Draco pushed himself into a comfortable sitting position. "You don't have to knock, you know. This is _your_ room, Kimura."

Kimura laughed softly, taking a seat on the futon beside Draco's and setting the tray between them. "It would be rude to enter if you were asleep, Draco-kun. After all, you are the guest."

Yugure, the cat, meowed in what sounded like agreement and stretched out next to her master, putting her head on his knee and purring.

Kimura deftly, skillfully poured the tea into two small cups, each oriental-style, that is, a thick, molded clay without handles. The tea itself was a bit strange, at least to Draco's taste buds that were so used to the fine, wizard-raised leaves of England; but he couldn't deny that the slightly bitter green tea was good in its own right. Kimura expertly added a certain mixture of sweet extra herbs to increase the taste and handed Draco one of the cups, which the blonde took and sipped contemplatively. It was a ritualistic rhythm they'd developed soon after Draco had arrived in Japan, and it seamed somewhat normal for them to continue it.

Draco blew a bit of steam away from his cup and took a quiet sip. There was an unusual shadow just outside the door, and it made him frown just a bit. "I see your brother is here."

Kimura chuckled softly. "Indeed." He whispered, and glanced towards the door where Kouji was hovering, pretending to be absorbed in a talk with their mother and keeping one eye on the room.

"He doesn't trust me." Draco observed.

"It would seam so." Kouichi smiled softly. "I wouldn't take it personally, though. He doesn't trust many people."

Draco had to smirk. "Interesting policy, for a Gryffindor."

"Naturally." Kimura took a sip of his own cup. "You do realize that 'brave' does not always mean 'foolish' or 'softhearted'. You of anyone should know that."

He gave Draco a soft smile. It was an allusion to the end of last year, Draco's first rebellion against his father's wishes, and when his thrice-damned conscience had erupted. Draco sniffed slightly, hiding the fact that his chest grew rather tight at the thought.

"Are you feeling any better?" Kimura asked gently, easily changing the subject away from whatever it was bothering his blonde friend.

Draco sighed. "I'm fine." He said simply. "It'll all be gone soon."

Kouichi nodded again. "I do wonder if someone has modified those wounds… with a curse or charm, something that would make them persist so."

"It's. Nothing." Draco snapped shortly.

Yugure hissed slightly, her eyes narrowing at him. He frowned at her in disproval.

"…I understand." Kouichi nodded, gathering the empty cups and standing with calm poise. "I should help mother prepare for dinner now. Would you like to join us, or would you prefer to eat alone?"

There was a soft growl from outside the door. Draco smirked again. "Sounds like your brother would rather I stay here."

Kouichi rolled his eyes at Kouji as he stepped out the door, but said nothing other than an affirmation and a soft goodbye. Yugure, however, remained behind, sitting herself at the end of Draco's futon and watching him with the intense focus of fiery, golden eyes.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Hermione couldn't help but giggle in delight as she fell back onto the soft, sturdy trundle bed that Izumi had set up with her, following her laughter with a sigh of content. She was currently wrapped in a fuzzy, light blue bathrobe that was delightfully warm and comfy, holding in the wonderfully clean feeling of being fresh from her first really good bath in a long, long time.

"See? I told you." Izumi smiled broadly, sitting on her own bed beside the pull-out one. She wore a light purple robe and was barefoot, just out of the bath like Hermione. "Every lady needs a little girl time. You're looking better already."

Hermione threw a pillow at her, making the blonde giggle more. "You know what I meant. You're always pretty, Granger, you just needed a little…cleaning up."

"Well, thank you for saying that." Hermione sighed, and sat up with a smile.

"I mean, I imagine you're pretty bent out of shape, traveling with those boys and all." Izumi ran a brush through her own long hair. "I know what it's luck, being stuck with only guys for that long. Sometimes you just gotta pull away and be a girl."

She reached over to the bed stand and tossed Hermione a bottle of water. The two girls grinned at each other, raised the bottles in a wordless toast, and took a nice, long drink.

After a soft spy, Izumi spoke again. "So, what's going on with you and Mr. Weasley?"

Hermione spat out some of her water, coughing and blushing lightly. "Wh-What?"

"You heard me." Izumi said brightly, crossing her legs to sit Indian-style. "Mr. Ronald Weasley? I take it _something_ must have happened, you're turning red."

Hermione's shade darkened and she looked down. "H-How…how did you…"

"It was pretty obvious. I am a girl, after all." Izumi leaned forward. "So? Have you gotten that idiot to proclaim his affections yet?"

Hermione blushed hotly again and started fidgeting with her hair. "Well…Not really. I mean, not yet, but we are sort of…I mean, we kind of…"

"Drifted together?" Izumi filled in, and Hermione nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. So you haven't actually been…going out…yet?"

"Not really." Hermione shrugged. "We didn't have time."

"Well…Maybe you can do it while you're here!"

Hermione's mouth fell open just slightly. "What?"

"Come on, can't you imagine it?" Izumi sighed, folding her hands together with a starry-eyed look in her blue eyes. "There's this wonderful view from the Tokyo Tower. If you could talk him into taking you up there at just the right time, you can watch the sun set and see how beautiful the city is a night! It's totally romantic!"

A slightly evil thought crossed Hermione's mind and she smirked. "Is that where Takuya took you?"

This time, it was Izumi's turn to blush. "Well…actually, no." She sighed. "He was going to take me to dinner in Taito-ku, but bought the wrong ticket on accident and got us stuck in Urayasu. We wound up in a department store café."

Hermione started laughing. Izumi smiled at her and started in herself, the duet of feminine giggles floating down the stairs and through the now-empty Italian restaurant.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Ron was already stretched out one of the two cots Takuya had dragged into his room, spread out on his back and snoring loudly. Takuya and Harry were still conscious, though currently they were looking at their red-haired roommate in a minor annoyance.

"Jeez." Takuya groaned, plugging his ears slightly. "I don't remember him snoring like that at Hogwarts."

"The curtains do a good job of muffling it." Harry allowed. "And their were some slight silencing charms on them, too."

"Great. Guess we just have to get used to it." Takuya sighed, and leaned back against the wall. "So, how've you been? You're really not looking so good."

Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "I'm just…stressed, that's all."

"It's gotta be more than that." Damn. Takuya _was_ pretty perceptive, wasn't he? "There's something else on your mind. It's pretty obvious, you know. And you're not the best liar in the world, buddy."

Harry groaned. "It's just stress. You know, from all the…"

He brandished a week-old copy of the _Morning Seal_, the Japanese equivalent of the _Daily Prophet_. The headline down the side of the paper read **He Who Defeated Chaos: Destined to do it again?** in big, bold letters.

"Yeah, but you've been getting that kinda stuff for over a year now." Takuya waved it off. "And, knowing you, you're used to it by now. There's gotta be something else."

Harry fell silent, folding his arms to lie face-down on his pillow and stare into a distant corner. Takuya watched him a moment, then sighed. "Fine, don't tell me." He muttered, rolling over to look at the dark ceiling. "It's your business, you keep it quiet if you want.

"Although…" He sat up on one elbow and winked at him. "You know secrets don't get kept forever. From one who knows."

A slight smile wormed it's way over Harry's lips. Dodged that bullet…for now, at least. Hopefully, he'd find the Horcux and be out of here before he had to drag anyone else into his problems.

"Now then," Takuya swung his legs out bed and leaned menacingly over Ron's sleeping form. "Whattya think is the best way to shut him up?"

_**TBC…**_

A familiar is an old idea about witches and wizards, the laymen's explanation is that of an animal which the witch or wizard has magical affinity and looks to for advice. Though Madam Rowling has never mentioned this in her books, it's worth it to note that Merlin's familiars were meant to be a cat, a rat, and his favorite owl.

Yes, I think Ron is an idiot on a regular basis. And I spent most of HBP yelling at him about it. Also, I think Hermione is the type to be a bit shy about her love life. Remember how long it took the boys to find out about Krum.

Urayasu is where Tokyo Disneyland is.


	6. Out and About

This chapter was originally two separate ones. But when I got it typed up, it was well over thirteen pages…while my normal cut-off point for this series is seven. So I separated it into two separate updates for double the pleasure, and to give me more time to think up the next part. Happy? I sure hope so. Enjoy.

Oh, as a note, since Kouichi was raised in a rather matriarchal family (i.e. - the only family he had for eleven years was his mother and grandmother) I imagine him being sort've…feminine, in a way. Which provides an explanation for why I get the idea that he might be good at and/or enjoy more 'domestic' tasks, such as sewing, cooking and cutting hair.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 5: Out and About**

Harry had to admit, Tokyo was very impressive. For a Muggle city.

Used to the cramped, hidden world of wizards he'd lived in for so very long, such a vast, active, yet still impossibly cramped and bustling city was a bit overwhelming. The lines were winding and immense, unlike any congestion he'd seen since the World Cup. Luckily enough, Ron was tall enough to see over most of the crowd and look for escape routes as they went.

"Where the heck are we goin', Kanbara?" The redhead asked down after twenty minutes of pushing through the Shibuya crowds.

"I told you," Takuya grinned. "We're going to pick up Kouji. Then we've got about an hour before we have to meet the girls."

"So how much longer until we get to Kouji?" Harry groaned, his mind already dizzy from the combined smell of so many other humans.

"Relax." Takuya grinned. "You'll like this, trust me, and it's just a bit further until we get to him."

'Just a bit' turned out to be three more people-jammed blocks, plus a slight shortcut through a back alley where Harry didn't relax the grip his wand for a minute. The resulting target of their harrowing quest turned out to be a rather gloomy-looking row of beat-up ground-floor apartments that couldn't have been more than two rooms apiece and seamed crowded beyond their limit.

"This is where Kouji lives?" Harry blurted in surprise.

"Nah. Kouji's living in Shinjuku. Down the street from my apartment, actually." Takuya shrugged, relatively nonchalant. "His dad's still living in the Minato-ku district though. All the fancy houses near Tokyo Tower. Kouji drops by there once a month or so."

"So what're we doing in this dump?" Ron asked, shifting his eyes nervously.

Takuya rolled his eyes at them. "_Kouji_ doesn't live here, but Kouichi and Tomoko-san do. He's spending the night, like he always does on the weekends."

"Who's Tomoko?"

"Their mother. Birthmother, I mean…Kouichi's mom." Takuya stumbled a bit on the explanation, so Harry nodded to show he understood what the other boy meant. "Anyway…she hates when we call him 'Kimura-san'. Says it makes her feel like somebody's grandmother.…Here we go."

He'd stopped in front of a plain brown door marked with the number twenty-seven. The small window next to it was covered by pleasant-looking powder blue curtains that looked home-made.

Takuya knocked on the wood with three sharp raps. A bit of scrambling noise echoed from inside just before a woman's voice. "Coming, coming!"

A few locks clicked before the door opened, revealing a smiling woman who must have been in her mid-fifties. Harry could tell that she must have been quite pretty when she was younger, her gray eyes smiling and friendly, black hair now nearly gone a few dark, powdery gray streaks. She had the same gentle smile as Kouichi, though it was quite a bit more severely wrinkled, and there was what looked suspiciously like a wand poking out of her apron pocket.

"Takuya-kun!" She greeted the young man with a quick bow before stepping out to hug him. "How are you, dear?"

"Doin' good, Tomoko-san." Takuya laughed, returning the embrace. "Are you feeling better?"

Feeling better? Harry blinked at the oddness of the greeting, but Mrs. Kimura just laughed. "Much better, thank you." She smiled and looked to the other two. "Oh? And who's this?"

"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley." Takuya piped instantly. "They're a couple of classmate from Hogwarts, here on visit. Holidays, you know?"

"Oh, yes!" Tomoko bowed to them, which the foreigners shakily returned. "It's so nice to meet you both. Everyone has told me so much about you."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am/" Harry muttered awkwardly. She hadn't made a big deal out of his name or scar or anything, and after so many years it was almost awkward.

Come to think of it, Takuya and the others had been quick to drop their astonishment once they realized it made him uncomfortable. Kouichi must have mentioned that, he supposed, and she was just being respectful of his wishes. Harry almost smiled. The Japanese certainly were polite…

"Well, don't just stand out there!" Tomoko laughed, retreating back through the door and opening it wide. "Come in, come in!"

The inside was much nicer than the exterior, with the help of several charms that could be easily deactivated in case of landlord. After toeing off their shoes in the entryway, the visitors entered a pleasant-looking living room, mostly taken up by a square kotatsu with a magically-powered heater, currently turned off. Connected to it was a somewhat cluttered, small kitchen that had recently-weathered gleam of a fresh Scouring Powder clean. An open door several feet away lead to a small water closet without any sort of shower or bath, and a hall stretched down to two closed doors that Harry took to be the bedrooms. Several scrolls with the now-familiar Japanese calligraphy decorated the walls. The scrolls were signed by a red seal reading a single kanji: _Kimura_.

Harry vaguely remembered Kouichi practicing his kanji on a napkin at New Year's and wondered if these decorations were the priest-in-training's handiwork.

Just as they had been herded around the kotatsu and served a large pot of sweet-smelling green tea, the door at the end of the hallway opened. Kouji stepped out, dressed in a white tee-shirt and blue jeans, completely absorbed in tying his long hair into its usual ponytail.

"Yo, Kouji!" Takuya grinned and waved.

The guardsman-in-training seamed only minutely surprised. "Hey." He muttered, pulling the black cord into a tight knot.

The door opened again and Kouichi stepped out after his brother, closing the door quietly behind him. He smiled when he saw the visitors. "Good afternoon, Takuya." He said warmly. "Potter, Weasley."

"Hullo." Ron mumbled, and Harry echoed him.

"Ready to go, Kouji?" Takuya asked, not bothering to try and hide the eager grin on his face.

Kouji shrugged. "Of course."

"What, you're not coming?" Ron asked Kouichi, turning to the slightly-older of the two twins.

"I can't." The dark-haired young man shook his head softly. "Sensei is expecting me at the shrine today, to assist with the training."

"Boy, that sucks." Takuya put his head in his hands, leaning over the table. "Orimoto-san lets us off Fridays and Saturdays, but you're stuck with the full school week."

"I knew the time clock when I applied Takuya." Kouichi laughed softly.

Kouji 'hn'ed' softly, pulling his Squad jacket from its place on the chair. Harry noticed for the first time that the silver kanji across his shoulders read 'Minamoto' while a single large character in the middle of his back read 'Wolf'. "Are we going?"

"Oh, Kouji." His mother sighed, moving over to him to straighten the jacket's hang. "Do you _have_ to wear this around town? People will think you're in a gang."

"That _is_ our cover, Mom." Said Kouji gently, picking up the wooden sword from the floor. "And besides…"

"He's got nothing else to put on." Kouichi finished with a smile. "Those are the only clothes he brought."

"Oh…" Tomoko-san sighed. "All right then. But at least put the bokuto away."

"Yes ma'am." Kouji lifted the side of his coat, revealing a large pocket on the inside lining. As he slid the sword in it seamed to fold up and disappear altogether.

Harry grinned and Ron blinked. "Hammerspace?"

"You know it?" Kouji raised an eyebrow.

"Bill…Ron's brother…rigged our bags with it." Harry motioned to the backpack over his shoulder. "I didn't know it."

"Well, the charm did originate in Japan…"

"Ahem." Kouichi cut them off with a polite cough. "Takuya, I do believe you're going to be late."

"Late?" Ron asked. "Late for what?"

Takuya looked down at his watch and jumped a foot. "ACK! I _am_ late!" He squawked and sprang for his shoes like a kitten who had been dumped into a full bath. The others stood slowly as he preformed the rather odd show of trying to put his shoes on and bow at the same time. "It's been really great to see you, Tomoko-san. Thanks for everything. Come'on guys, we gotta get out of here…WOAH!"

He dove for his wand as it fell from his pocket, but missed and fell flat on his face to watch it roll under the wooden coat rack attached to the wall.

Tomoko laughed softly, pulling her own wand from the pocket of her apron and giving it a light flick. "Don't be a stranger, dears." She smiled to everyone as Takuya's wand rolled back out. "I'd love to have you for dinner sometime, Kanbara-kun."

"I'll take you up on that, Tomoko-san. You know I love your cooking." Takuya sighed, tying his laces with a toss of his wand as he glanced at the others. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah." Harry shrugged, tapping his shoes on the ground as Ron fumbled with the laces.

"You better be." Takuya made a bee-line for the door and checking his watch hastily. "Oh man, Ketaru-san's gonna kill me."

Ron yanked his shoes the rest of the way on as they stumbled out, so he had to struggle a bit to catch up. "Who's Ketaru?" He asked Kouji as they moved.

Kouji mumbled something that sounded like 'Amistit Mikitc Momph'.

"What?" Harry blinked. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'Assistant Quidditch Coach'." Kouji rolled his eyes. "Takuya's partner."

"Hey guys!" Takuya jogged in place at the end of the street. "Hurry up! Let's get a move on before the match starts!"

"Match?" Ron and Harry chorused, an eager tone rising. It felt like far too long since they'd seen a Quidditch Match.

Takuya glance at his watch again. "Aw, shoot!" He took off again. "Masamu is never gonna let me live this down…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

When it comes to shopping in Tokyo, Shibuya is no Akehabara. But it's damn close.

Hermione was used to crowded shopping, having spent most, if not all, of her life somewhere between London and Diagon Alley. She was not, however, used to so many electronics, and to be perfectly honest, it was a pain in the neck.

"It's so loud." She groaned, putting her hands over her ears. "How can you stand it, Orimoto?"

Izumi laughed, her blue eyes twinkling as she brushed her long hair behind her ear. "You get used to it after a while, don't worry." She smiled. "I've been here for eight years now. Shibuya is my home."

Hermione groaned, wishing she could use her wand to charm the pressure from her rapidly-growing headache, but there were far too many Muggles around for something like that. She kept stretching hopefully towards the more magical-looking or out-of-place shop, longing for the store where Izumi had promised to refill Hermione's dwindling potions kit, but none of them wielded fruit. She now was too disoriented to do much more than follow the purple-dressed blonde before her with ever-slipping determination.

"Here we are." Announced Izumi brightly.

Hermione sighed in relief, shaking away her stupor and looking up to find…a grocery store.

With all her years of magical 'don't judge a book by its cover' training, she shouldn't have been disappointed…but she was. The place was just normal, just your average home-grown grocer's, like something that belonged in a village. There was even a plain painted sign advertising the various fruits that were for sale in the baskets out front. The only odd thing about it was that it seamed to have firmly withstood the test of time and looked rather out of place in the huge, bustling metropolis, sandwiched between a bookstore and some kind of punk clothing chain.

"Come on, Granger-chan." Izumi called from the open door.

"Uh…Right. Sorry." Hermione jogged a bit to catch up to the other girl.

As the door closed behind them with a soft bell tone, the normal-looking grocery store continued to stubbornly be a normal-looking grocery store. Normal products, normal magazine rack with the normal elementary schools flipping through the manga issues, and a rather normal old man behind the counter.

He was a pleasant-looking, roly-poly man with completely white hair, including the broom-bristle mustache under his mushroom-shaped nose. He looked up as Izumi came up to him, his friend blue eyes lighting up.

"Well, G'day to you, Miss Orimoto." He said brightly in an odd sort of slurred accent.

"Good afternoon, Ryokucha-san." Izumi bowed politely.

Ryokucha turned his smiling face to Hermione. "And who's this lovely young lady, eh? I ain't seen you 'round here before."

"Hermione Granger." The bushy-haired girl bowed quickly. "P-Please to meet you."

"Granger-chan's from England, Ryokucha-san." Izumi added, choosing her words quite carefully. "I met her on the abroad trip Kouichi-kun and I took a couple of years ago. Do you remember?"

"Oh ho." Ryokucha's eyes twinkled as he stepped out from behind the counter. "So, this must be one of the clever young ravens I've heard so much about."

Clever…ravens? Ravenclaw! Hermione shook her head, trying to hide the expression of surprise slipping over her face.

"No?" Ryokucha laughed. "Well then, you must be from the den of noble young lions, am I correct?"

Hermione nodded and smiled.

"Well then." Ryokucha reached into his pocket and produced a thin wand, flicking it back to the front of the store to activate whatever illusion kept non-magic customers away. "Let's get down to business, shall we, ladies?"

As he lead them back through the store, Hermione leaned up to whisper to Izumi curiously. "He knows Kimura?"

"He's really good friends with Kouichi's mother." Izumi whispered back. "I found out that the Kimuras were a wizard family when we ran into each other here. Neither of us had any idea when we met."

"What are yeh two muttering about back there?" Chuckled Ryokucha as he opened the storeroom door. "Not planning to pull a trick on ol' Ryo-kun, are you?"

"Oh no, Ryokucha-san." Izumi shook her head and darted nimbly behind him to enter the back room. "She was just asking about Kouichi-kun, that's all."

Ryokucha smiled, flicking his wand at the lights to flash them to life. "Kimura-kun, eh? He's a sweet one, that kid, but not the strongest. Got fevers every other week when he was little, poor little guy, and with his mama in the Tokyo Tower Division she couldn't quite afford the meds, so I'd give 'er soma my patented Cooling Crests no charge…"

"Tokyo Tower Division?" Hermione felt a familiar squirm of curiosity arise as Ryokucha stepped behind a row of brown wooden crates.

"Tokyo Tower was built on a Magical Epicenter." Izumi explained. "It's like a drain where the magic leftovers from all over the area get washed."

"Aye." Ryokucha clicked his tongue, pulling a large carpet bag from behind the crates. "The imbalance makes for some dangerously uncontrolled magical residue, and a lotta problems rise out of all that mess. Sometimes even muggles get caught up in it. So yeh have people like sweet little Tomoko Kimura who go in and clean up every now and then. Nasty job, and the pay's terrible, but it does a helluvalotta good for the city."

"I see…" Hermione contemplated this. It certainly explained a lot. Kimura's constantly-tired yet happy expression, the reason he worked so hard to be skilled at his task as a priest, why he'd never complained about his second-hand tools or worn dress robes the way Ron always did…

"Now then," Ryokucha hauled his worn mauve carpetbag onto the crates with a crash. "To business. What can I do for yeh lovely young ladies today?"

"Well…" Izumi pulled a written list from her pocket, running her finger down it contemplatively. "Papa needs some asphodel and sakura pollen…oh, and some tomatoes, but I can get that on the way out…and what did you need to restock on, Granger-chan."

"Uh…" Hermione had been watching Ryokucha dig around in his bag, pulling out a remarkable number of obviously-magical ingredients and devices. "Boomslang skin, wolf's bane and narcissus, please sir."

"Right-o." Ryokucha winked, pulling a jar of slimy-looking gillyweed from the bag. "So, we got asphodel…and here's your boomslang skin, Miss Granger."

He handed several stalks of a leafy, celery-like plant to Izumi and a small, corked jar to Hermione, pulling out what seamed to be a preserved pair of red eyes in a display case of glass vials. "Hell, where did these come from? I'll ring Kyosuke's neck for this one, greedy little son of a…"

Hermione decided it would be unwise to ask who Kyosuke was, but got the image of someone very much like Mundungus Fletcher.

Ryokucha produced a tiny vial of powdery yellow sakura pollen, several narcissus in a pretty glass box and large back of ripe red tomatoes in turn. Now up to his shoulder in the bag, he had added several hourglasses, two compasses, half a dozen vials of various potions and what appeared to be a live, though frozen, toad.

"Ah, 'ere we go then." He pulled a wooden jar of wolf's bane from deep within the Hammerspace bag, popping his pudgy shoulder with a light yawn. "Anything else for you today, ladies?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, sir…"

"Got anything sweet?" Izumi asked with an oh-so-innocent, I'm-older-than-I'm-pretending-to-be smile.

Ryokucha grinned at her and produced two green-and-purple boxes. "'Ere yeah go, ladies. At'll be two galleons, four six, six knuts all together."

Izumi produced a coin purse and dished out the amount, waving off Hermione's attempt to pay her share. Ryokucha gave his wand a light flick, the groceries slipping automatically into two separate brown paper bags, the tomatoes separate from it all. "Pleasure doing business with yeh, ladies. Have a g'day."

"Thank you!" Izumi bowed and Hermione mirrored her awkwardly as they exited through the back door out into the alleyway.

Izumi dug out the sweet boxes and handed one to Hermione. The label was in katakana, _Popin' Rocks_. "What are they?"

"Watch." Izumi opened the corner and tipped a green candy the size of a galleon into her hand. She gave her wrist a quick snap and tossed it into the air.

With a _crack_ the tiny candy exploded. Like a firework, raining down colored sugar-powder into Izumi's waiting mouth.

"Mmm." The blonde licked her lips with a broad smile on her face. "Yummy! Go on, try one."

Hermione tried it, an orange one this time, and had to keep herself from giggling until she got it all. It was a delightfully sweet taste, and she suspected a light hint of Cheering Charm had been added to make it all even better.

"Told ya." Izumi checked her watch and picked up the pace just a bit. "Come on, we've got just enough time to drop these off before we have to meet the boys. I don't wanna be late."

"For what?" Hermione asked, now contemplating what would happen if she put the Rock straight into her mouth without throwing it.

"There's a scrimmage match on." Izumi's eager grin had returned brightly and she nearly ran down the street with the bookworm fast on her heels.

_**TBC…**_

The Minato-ku district is where Usagi 'Serena' Tsukino lives in _Sailor Moon_. It's right near Tokyo Tower and is full of nice houses. Some people call it the 'Beverly Hills of Tokyo'.

Tomoko's Muggle front-job is a seamstress.

Even though Kouichi and Tomoko-san don't have a bath in their apartment, there's a public bathhouse down the street that they go to three times a week. Kouichi also showers at the Shrine daily.

Kouji's jacket (or _tokko-fuku_, as the gaku-ran style is called) has the kanji for 'Roshi' or wolf on the back, a reference to the _Mibu-Roshi_, the Wolfs of Mibu, who eventually became the famed revolutionary swordsman group the Shinsengumi. Tomoko's not found of it because gaku-ran and yanki styles are associated with stereotypical Japanese street and biker gangs.

_Bokuto - _Wooden sword.

Hammerspace is the mysterious place behind your back from which annoyed women can pull out giant mallets to whack your standard pervert with. An old Anime in-joke.

Mr. Ryokucha speaks with a 'Kansai' accent, from the Southern part of Japan. Osaka, specifically.

'Ryokucha' means 'green tea' and is shared by the main character of one of my original manga idea, Shun Ryokucha. (Shun means 'instant' in some translations, hence the name of the manga, _Instant Green Tea_)

A lot of magical incidents happen at Tokyo Tower, particularly in magical-girl shoujo manga such as _Magic Knight Rayearth_, _Card Captor Sakura_ and _Sailor Moon_. It's also where my favorite online comic, _Okashina Okashi - Strange Candy_ starts off.

The red (or scarlet) eyes are a reference to my most recent manga obsession, _Hunter X Hunter _by Yoshiro Togashi. The frozen toads are from Nickelodeon's _Avatar: The Last Airbender_.

Poppin' Rocks are my idea, inspired by noisy German fireworks and a random scene from the latest _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ movie. You know, the Tim Burton one with Johnny Depp. I love Tim Burton…

Kouichi and Draco will have a big part in the next chapter, don't worry, and the action will finally get started, too! It'll be up in a week or so, so stay with us please! Don't forget to review!


	7. Favors

An explanation: Kouichi is/was in Slytherin for two reasons. One: So he could get to know Malfoy, just because I randomly put them in the same carriage in a scene I cut from HP-DF and was pleasantly surprised

In case you're brainless and haven't figured it out yet, the underlying **couples/ships** in this fic are as followed: Harry x Ginny, Ron x Hermione and Takumi. Any other couples that seam to get a hint or a nudge here are up to your interpretation. So please, quit begging me for crossover pairings. (Last time I tried that it was shot down the next book.)

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 6: Favors**

"Dammit, Takuya!" The shout echoed across the tunnel and up through the manhole cover as the group made their single-file way down the ladder. "You're _late_!"

"Don't curse in front of the kids, Ketaru." Takuya's groan echoed up as well.

Harry crawled down into the back-alley manhole and got his first good look at the original speaker. Ketaru-san seamed to be about twenty or so, a mop of uncombed black hair handing over his pointed faces and stark blue eyes. From where he was seated on a hovering broom, wearing a loose black robe that billowed around him slightly in the backwind of the flying magic, Harry was reminded of the crows that Kouichi had shone him while at the shrine.

The room was huge, a rounded dome with a number of stone stands set into the walls. When he jumped down, Harry realized that the floor was charmed to a springy softness that bounced as you walked. Three hoops set at different levels were at each end of the vast expansion, with familiar markings on the ground as figures on brooms flew through some very familiar warm-up exercises. Harry knew what it looked like, but it couldn't honestly be…

"What _is_ this place?" Ron blurted, his eyes widening as he looked around.

"This?" Takuya grinned, pulling a loose black robe over his clothes and grabbing a broom. "This is our Quidditch pitch."

"Underground?" Harry asked, looking up at the charmed ceiling, which glowed lightly to illuminate the vast room.

"Hey, it's either this or bus to Yokohama twice a week." Takuya shuddered. "You ever tried coordinating eight little kids through nine train stops? Ugh."

"Little kids?" Harry turned his eyes up again and found that, yes, the oldest of the flyers couldn't have been more than 10. "What the…?"

"It's a conditioning workshop." Kouji jumped nimbly down from the ladder after sliding the manhole closed after them all. "Like little-league."

"Only bad side is that we can't get the Muggle-borns in this division, so we're kinda limited." Takuya shook his head, his broom hovering near to waist height for him to mount it. "But we've got more than enough half-bloods and purebloods for a decent number of teams…"

"Takuya!" Shouted Ketaru in annoyance from the air. "Quit yakin' and start coaching! The mock starts in an hour!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Takuya shouted, mounting. "Sheesh…"

Ron frowned up at him, as did Kouji. "So we're just supposed to watch?" Muttered the long-haired protector.

"Hey, it's fun." Takuya shrugged. "And we've got a mock-match with the Tanoshi in an hour. It'll be a ball, trust me."

Kouji scowled at him and wandered into a free corner, pulling out his bokuto and beginning some practice of his own.

Takuya shook his head at his friend, then turned to Harry with an odd gleam in his eye. He lowered the broom to whisper, "Actually, Potter, I kinda hoped you'd help me out a bit…Oi, Aki!"

"Yeah coach?" A pretty little redhead girl with bright hazel eyes pulled her broom to a stop roughly two stories up from them. She wore a light red cape loosely around her shoulders, designating which scrimmage team she was on.

Takuya motioned with his hands. "Come down here a sec. There's somebody I want you to meet."

Aki pointed her broom towards them and slide down to hover next to her coach. Takuya grinned and turned to Harry. "Potter, this is Aki Mitsuki, Seeker for the Shibuya Shinigami. I was hoping you could drill her a bit, if you don't mind."

"Sure." Harry hoped to dear god he wasn't blushing. Aki reminded him so much of Ginny when they had first met that it made his heart race.

"Great!" Takuya grinned broadly. "There's a spare broom in the closet over there if you need it. I gotta work with the Beaters a bit."

He zoomed off. Harry couldn't help but grin as he reached deep into his Hammerspace bag and produced his own broom. The Firebolt seamed to tremble with anticipation under his fingers, begging to be used and longing to zoom up into the air, light as a feather…

"Wow, a Firebolt?" Aki breathed excitedly, her hazel eyes sparkling. "You must be really good, Mr. Potter-san!"

"Well, some people say that." Harry kept his voice even, trying to be modest. "You ready to go?"

Aki smiled and her cheeks had dimples in them, just like Ginny's. "Yeah!"

Harry grinned softly as he mounted his broom. And then he flew.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Honestly, Kimura, why do you bother with muggle things like that?" Draco rolled his eyes, leaning against light, wooden wall and pulling another stick of chocolate Pocky from the box by his leg.

Kouichi looked up and smiled at him through the thin black thread that was held loosely in his mouth. A quick grind of his teeth and the thread had snapped, tying off the repaired seam of the first-year boy's school shirt, torn by a misfired spell. "Magic cannot solve everything, Draco-kun." He whispered gently, checking to make sure the seam was straight. "And it is unwise to expend your magical energy on a simple task which you can easily accomplish through physical means."

"Whatever." Malfoy sighed as he took the thin waver in his mouth and turned to gaze out at the sunlit garden again. "Seams like a waste of time to me."

Kouichi smiled at his friend and shook his head thoughtfully. He pulled himself to his feet and made his way across the large room to where the training was going on. With Draco being eager to get out of the house and having recovered the strength to do so, it seamed only natural that the first place they should go was the shrine, if only so that the blonde foreigner could be formally introduced to the man who had assisted with his arrival.

They had not exactly expected him to be introduced to the class as a special guest observer, but that's precisely what had happened. Tomoki had been the most startled and a little offended, but was calmed when he realized that he was the first out of their little group to know about this.

As it was, Draco was sitting in the far inside corner of the room, watching somewhat patiently as the priests directed their students. Lecture was over for now, and the group was just practicing the spells they had been taught.

"Watanabe-kun." Kouichi called, approaching the first year Yin who was working bare-chested in the group of the others. "I've fixed your shirt."

The little boy smiled up at him and raised his arms, letting the apprentice pull the shirt down over his head. The little head popped out of the top with a cute giggle. "Thank you, Sempai! It's all fixed!"

"No problem." Kouichi smiled warmly and straightened.

A fifteen-year-old girl in Tomoki's year stopped in her training and smiled at Kouichi as he passed. "Konichiwa, Kimura-sempai." She giggled, batting her eyelashes and bouncing her blonde pigtails cutely.

"Hello, Kimiko-san." Kouichi gave her a kind smile and a tiny bow, despite the fact that Tomoki was behind the girl rolling his eyes. It was a well-known fact that Kimiko Tachikawa had harbored a lasting crush on her dark-haired sempai since her second year of training, and despite the fact that he had repeatedly expressed that he had very little desire to date or marry anyone at all, especially not a girl four years younger than himself, she kept on trying to get his attention.

Tomoki caught Kouichi's eye and grinned brightly, the same spark in his eyes as ever. Kouichi smiled back at him and nodded in encouragement at the younger's practice before making his way to the outside doors.

"Hakaishi-sensei?" He called softly, stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

The two teachers…his own and Kenkyo-san…turned away from their conversation and Hakaishi smiled at him. "Yes, Kouichi-kun?"

His assistant came up beside him, frowning softly with a worried gleam in his eyes. "Are you all right, Sensei? You look like something's wrong."

Hakaishi observed him a moment, silently, then smiled and pat his head gently. "Don't worry. It's nothing…"

There was a moment of silence. Kenkyo was off to one side, examining one of the many trees that grew along the cement walkway, utterly absorbed in one of the delicate green boughs. Hakaishi knew that Kouichi was standing quietly only a few feet away, waiting patiently, and quietly cursed whatever sensitivity it was that made his apprentice so in-tune with the feelings of people around him.

"…Kouichi." The priest finally sighed after a long while. "Have you had any… dreams lately?"

Kouichi turned his head slightly and blinked. "No, sir. None that I really remember, anyway."

"…I see." Hakaishi sighed softly, sounding somewhat at ease.

Kouichi took a step closer to his teacher. "Have you had any, sensei?"

Hakaishi sighed again and popped his jaw, frowning. Before he could give the negative answer he had planned, Kenkyo suddenly spoke up. "Just tell him, Hakaishi." Said the woman without looking back at him. "If you can't tell your own apprentice, who can you tell?"

Hakaishi rolled his eyes at the slightly-older woman, who just smiled at him. Once again he sighed heavily and rubbed his temples.

"Sensei?" Kouichi asked gently. "You…You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

"No…No, it's all right." Hakaishi sighed, opening his eyes again and looking up at the fading light of the sunset-filled sky. "I've had a recurring premonition every night for a short while now…about three weeks, actually."

"That's when Draco-kun came." Kouichi mentioned softly, nodding.

"Indeed." Hakaishi's gaze grew less focused, as though he was seeing something no one else could. "The dream, as I have said, is always the same: A pale yellow bird with a wounded wing escapes from a den of foxes and falls to the ground. A black kitten finds the bird and cleans the blood from the wound, trying to help him. Then a red fox comes after the bird again with a green snake around its neck. The kitten tries to defend the bird…and is killed by the fox."

Kouichi frowned softly. It was a priest's inheritance to have dreams of the future, whether they be real-time ideas or, far more often, symbolism. "What does it mean?"

"…I don't know." Hakaishi admitted. He turned to his apprentice, noting the young man's worried expression as he bit the end of his thumb lightly, and smiled softly. "Don't worry about it, Kouichi. It's probably nothing."

"…But the kitten died." Kouichi said softly. "You know what means, Sensei."

Hakaishi nodded absently, his mind wandering. But before he could speak comfort or anything else, Kenkyo's voice shot out. "Hakaishi!"

"What is it?" Hakaishi turned to the older woman, whipping out his wand.

Kenkyo already had her hands on a bow, stringing it easily as she stared at the trees in front of her. "Look."

They looked. The rice-paper scrolls hanging from the branches and tied to the trunks had begun to glow with a soft red that grew with a steady intensity, the black ink marking written across them changing to a light blue. Several smaller links began to rub together, making a sort of ringing chime as they shown green.

Kouichi drew in a sharp breath between his death. "Is this…?"

"Demons." Hakaishi growled softly, keeping his wand arm steady and taking a determined step forward.

Kenkyo's sharp blue eyes were focused just ahead of them, down the long steps that lead to the city street. "There's quite a few of them. Heading this way. They're definitely after the shrine, Hakaishi."

"But the sun's not even down." Kouichi spared a glance upwards at the still-light sky above them. There was some orange tinting the edges, but it was obvious they still had an hour of sunlight left.

"They're bold." Hakaishi whispered.

"Very bold." Added Kenkyo.

Both of them were silent a long moment, staying perfectly focused on the impending threat.

****"Kouichi." Hakaishi was tense, his voice trying desperately to be level and even as he spoke. "Take the kids and your friend to the safe house. Make sure no one goes outside of the main building. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Kouichi bowed quickly and took off back to the shrine. He paused a moment on the front step to look back at the two teachers. "Sensei?"

"What?" Hakaishi turned back to him ever so slightly.

"Please be careful." Muttered the apprentice, and disappeared inside the building to warn of the attack.

_**TBC…**_

"Eight little kids…" - Seven players + One alternate.

You may have noticed that I mentioned a 'Masamu' in the last chapter. Originally, I planned for there to be a face-to-face showdown between Takuya and a cross-town rival coach of the same name, but the timing was way off, so I cut it out. It was just an accident that I forgot to change that one sentence.

Takuya and Ketaru's brooms are both Inazuma 450s. (Izumi, with her perks as a Tester for such things, has upgraded to the Inazuma 780) The Firebolt is an internationally-standard racing broom, used in the World Cup and all, so it's pretty impressive to have ones. The kids are mostly on Maiagaru 2020 'Chibi' models.

Yes, I'm well aware that 'Mr. Potter-san' is an oxymoron. I just like the way it sounds.

I'm having far too much fun with the little aspects of Japanese wizardry, aren't I? Oh well, I need some time to have fun and play with minor original characters…

Heh heh…Kouichi sounds like Kurapika from _Hunter X Hunter_. Lots of big words. I actually talk like that too…

'Aki' is a name I borrowed from _Socrates In Love_. 'Watanabe' is a common last name in Japanese, similar to 'Smith' in the U.S. 'Kimiko' comes from Megatokyo, and I figure you can guess where Tachikawa comes form. Her crush on Kouichi is similar the one junior high school students get on their teachers.

The kids called Kouichi 'sempai' because he's not old enough to be their teacher quite yet, but he's still not one of the students. The youngest ones use the term Sempai by itself, because he's several years older than them. Fifth-to-seventh years mostly call him 'Kimura-sempai'. Tomoki, of course, has permission to call him by his first name, so that's what he does.


	8. Call to Arms

Muggle borns can't get into the little-league division because they don't know they're wizards until the age of twelve. It's against the rules to tell them before that, they have to live a normal life. Kouichi and Tomoko couldn't even tell Kouji that she was a witch until he got the letter of invitation to the shrine's training. I've thought of writing some of those pre-training scenes but it's never been a good time to do it. They're a little sloppy, anyway…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 7: Call To Arms**

Kouichi entered the shrine as calmly as he could, but his breath was racing urgently. He slid the wooden door shut, locking the wooden bar into place to barricade the shrine from the outside.

It was the sound of the _yojimbo_ falling into place that startled some of the older students. Draco looked up as well, a single stick of pocky held in his teeth almost like a rather long cigarette.

Kimiko looked up first, biting her lip. "Kimura-sempai?"

"Kouichi?" Tomoki paused in his training and approached his older friend quickly. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

The priest-in-training took a few deep breaths, nodding absently in response to his friend's statement. After a moment, he looked up, his blue eyes set and determined. "Everybody needs to follow me." He said evenly, pushing away from the wall. "And stay together, nobody wander off. We don't want to loose anyone."

"Loose?" Kimiko squeaked.

"Just stay calm." Kouichi crossed the room and open a smaller door, one that lead to a small hallway and the priests' living quarters. "But hurry. There isn't much time."

Draco was on his feet first, side-stepping the mob of children as they hurried towards their student-teacher. "What's going on, Kimura?"

Kouichi glanced at the kids as they scrambled through the doorway, dropping his voice down to speak to his friend. "Demons. They're coming this way, lots of them. I'm going to need your help, Draco-kun…"

He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that the foreigner went several shades paler when he heard the word 'demon'.

"Kimura-sempai!" Watanabe, the little first-year boy, tugged on the student-teacher's pants leg anxiously. "We gotta go home soon. Mommy will be worried!"

Kouichi looked torn for a moment, biting his lip with the fear that he might frighten the twelve year old. Then he sighed and leaned down to scoop the small boy up. "Don't worry. We'll make sure your parents aren't worried, okay?"

Watanabe sniffed a bit, but nodded.

"Okay everybody, follow me." Kouichi pushed through the doorway with Draco on his heels. "This way. Stay together now."

The kids scrambled after him in groups of twos and threes, pushing down the thin wooden hall anxiously. Tomoki, Kimiko and several of the other older students had their wands bared and ready, as did Draco. Kouichi's wand was sticking out of his robes, ready to be drawn, but his arms were currently full of child as he carried a whimpering Watanabe.

A shattering explosion suddenly echoed around them, shaking the hallway and knocking many of the children into one another. "What was that?" Kimiko shrieked, grabbing onto the nearest person she could, which happened to be Tomoki.

"What the bloody hell…?" Draco cursed, looking up at the ceiling, and some of the younger kids gaped at him.

"Just stay calm." Kouichi blew his bangs up, glancing over the crowd to see if anyone was hurt. No one was. "All right then, come on. It's just a little further."

He pushed his way forward and the small crowd flocked after him. Draco hissed softly and let the kids go past, bringing up the rear to glance behind them nervously at the door. At the end of the hallway Kouichi paused and opened the door with one hand, setting Watanabe down as soon as they were inside.

They had entered a large, spacious, dark room with a tall fire-shrine as the major fixture. A pyre was set up in front of the wooden structure, decorated with scrolls and prayer beads, awaiting the next priest seeking the secrets of the future.

Kouichi took a quick headcount, making sure they had all the students, as Draco slid the door shut behind them. The blonde turned and gazed around the room with scrutiny. "What good is this going to do?"

"We're not safe yet." Kouichi muttered, and stumbled a bit on the bare floorboards as another great explosion shook the shrine. Tomoki dove and caught his older friend by the arm, rewarded by a grateful smile.

Kouichi pushed himself back to a steady footing and made his way across the room. He paused next to a simple wall scroll set onto one of the wooden panels and pulled out his wand. First he ran the wand between the panels swiftly, then he placed his hand against the scroll and pushed hard.

The scroll's panel popped open suddenly and slide out of the way, almost as though it was on wheels. Behind it revealed a small, yet reasonably roomy space, something like an empty wine cellar or a bare dungeon cell. A small, almost invisible light glowed near the ceiling, illuminating the room softly.

The kids 'oohed' softly as their student-teacher turned back. "Okay everybody, in you get."

"You heard him!" Tomoki piped, pushing Kimiko from behind. "Let's go everyone! In we get!"

The small crowd scrambled in. Kouichi touched every other student on the shoulder, counting them off as they went past, and came up one person short. For a moment his mind raced, then he realized that Malfoy was still hovering near the sliding door, wand at the ready as he peaked out into the hall.

"Draco-kun!" Kouichi hissed urgently. He motioned to the hidden passage, trying to ignore the crowd of wide eyes staring out at them from the darkness. "Come _on_!"

"We're just going to hide?" Draco sneered harshly, gripping his wand even tighter.

"We don't have a choice, Draco-kun." Kouichi strode across the room and closed the door quickly. "This is the most secure room in the shrine. We'll be safe here, and we have to think of the students…"

Draco snarled softly, but closed the door and followed Kouichi into the small room. The priest-in-training took one last count, then tapped the passage with his wand again to slide the panel shut. The light above them glowed a bit brighter, as though greeting the new occupants with a comforting haze.

They were hardly settled before another explosion racked the shrine, and this time the walls around them seamed to twist and contract. Everyone under the age of thirteen screamed, along with many of those from the fourteen to sixteen range. Kimiko seized Kouichi's arm desperately and shrieked, "What happening?"

"Everyone just _calm down_!" Kouichi called over the ruckus, and after a moment the walls settled back into their original place.

Tomoki had his wand in his hand, bristled all over in a familiar protective stance. "What was that?"

"Fox magic." Kouichi's eyebrows nearly touched as his face folded into a worried contemplation. He wrenched Kimiko from his arm somewhat gently, making his way back over to the door. "Or badger or something of the like…Some very powerful animal spirits…"

"I've read about that!" Kimiko piped up. "Their illusions practically reshape reality the way _they_ want it to be! They're perfectly real, down to the last detail, even if you close your eyes you can still touch them, smell them, even taste them! Three or four really strong foxes can dream up a whole city out of a rice paddy!"

Draco gave the slightly-younger girl a withering glare and resisted the urge to call her 'Mudblood'.

Kouichi, on the other hand, just nodded absently and leaned one arm against the panel door, his eyes rather distant. "This room is specially warded, so their magic won't be able to affect it." He leaned his head against his arm, a worried expression on his lips. "But if it's reaching all the way down here…Eight badgers and a fox? That's the minimum that could reach all the way here, and that was more than a tremor…"

"What the hell are you mumbling about, Kimura?" Draco growled softly, sliding away from the kids and toward the priest-in-training. Two of the younger second years had attached themselves to the edge of the foreigner's robes with frightened whimpers, and it took a moment to wrench them off without hurting either of the small sets of hands.

Kouichi turned to his friend with a serious look. "There must be more than we thought there were, a lot more. At this rate, Kenkyo-sensei and Hakaishi-sensei will never be able to hold them off…they'll overrun the whole shrine."

Draco hissed softly, briefly reminding the priest of a rather dangerous coiled snake. "And what are we supposed to do about that?"

Kouichi didn't answer him, mulling over their options. Then he looked up suddenly, a determined expression on his face, and tapped his wand against the edge of the door once more. The hidden entrance popped open suddenly without any other warning.

"Kimura-sempai!" Kimiko shrieked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going for help." The priest-in-training muttered, sliding the door open just a crack to glance out stealthily. "Everybody else stay here, I'll be back as soon as I…"

"I'm going too."

Kouichi spun around as a thin, pale hand gripped the wooden door next to him. Pushing into the space beside him, the blonde boy held a strangely determined look on his face. "Draco-kun…"

"I'm _going_, Kimura." Malfoy snapped harshly. "You can't expect me to stay here and baby-sit. I'm going."

Kouichi studied his friend's face a long moment, then sighed in defeat. "All right…fine." He turned slightly and glanced at the two oldest members of the group. "Tomoki, Noriko-san, you guys look out for the others, okay?"

"You got it!" Tomoki piped, and 17-year-old Noriko Yukimura nodded quickly.

"As soon as we're gone, slide the door shut and tap it twice to seal it again." Kouichi flicked his wand twice in demonstration, a serious expression on his face. "Whatever happens…no matter you hear outside the door, no matter anyone says, whatever you do…_don't open the seal_, for anyone. Not even me, do you understand?"

Tomoki and Noriko nodded again, but Kimiko continued to look worried. "B-But what if they come after you, Kimura-sempai? They could kill you!"

"I can open the door from the outside. The demons can't." Kouichi gave the girl a comforting expression. "As long as you stay in here, you'll all be safe. But if you open the seal, those demons _will_ get you."

He leaned down and ruffled Kimiko's hair. "You don't have to worry. Nothing's going to happen, I promise."

The smaller teen looked up at him in awe, then smiled and gave a short nod. Draco rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to gag.

Kouichi straightened, pulling his wand from his robe. He turned to Draco with a thoughtful expression. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Of course I am." Draco sneered, ignoring a light ripple of pain that rolled out from under his concealed bandages. He reached into the special pocket sewn into the inside lining of his black robes, producing his own wand. "Let's get going, Kimura."

Kouichi nodded and the two set out of the small passageway with one swift motion.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"_Kouji!"_

The young man spun around in his seat, looking for the source of the sound, but it was indiscernible amongst the frantic screams and cheers of the crowd around him. It was mostly parents and older siblings, of course, and nothing near what the matches at Hogwarts had drawn, but it was substantial nonetheless. His blue eyes searched the crowd for a long moment, but could find nothing interesting as the crowd rose up again to cheer another score by a small eight-year-old boy in loose red and black robes.

"All right!" Cheered Izumi, next to him, clapping her hands. "Go Shinigami!"

Hermione clapped as well, but noticed the black-haired boy's odd expression. "Kouji? What is it?"

Kouji snapped around and glared, a light scowl working its way onto his lips. "It's nothing." He said firmly, and crossed his arms as he turned back to the game.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The shrine was, as one would hope and expect in such a situation, completely abandoned. This, however, was no comfort to the two young men racing along its dark passageways, both their bodies tense and their wands clutched in their hands as they ran.

"Where the hell are they?" Draco growled, his blue eyes tracing the darkened halls nervously.

"Demons hate religion, they won't come into the building until they have to." Kouichi muttered, reaching the back door and undoing the Muggle-style locks. "But their illusions can have an effect, so don't let your guard down."

Draco scowled at the locks and pointed his wand at the nearest one, which readily came undone. Kouichi gave him a slightly exasperated look, but said nothing and slide the door open.

There were trees outside the door, which was to be expected, as they land surrounded the shrine was covered in them. Made for a nice bit of Fung Shui, the priests had explained, a decent balance between the natural world and the industrial civilization around them.

However, there was something more spelled out in the moonlight against the dark canvas of steadily-growing evening: Several balls of blue-white fire were dancing among the trees like recently-freed balloons. They were about as large as a normal human's head and didn't seam to give off any heat, rather, they seemed to draw heat away from the objects near them, creating an icy cold. The trees around them were unaffected, even as one of the strange orbs passed straight through them.

Draco frowned. "What in the name of…"

"Don't look at them!" Kouichi warned, dragging Draco away by the arm. "Those are fox lanterns, Draco-kun. Fox demons set them up to lure humans into traps, they'll put you in a trance if you stare at them too long."

Draco shook his head, wiping away the haze that had hovered over his mind, and scowled slightly. "Then shouldn't you do something about them?"

"Like what?"

"Back home in _England_, if we ever come up with something like this, the Ministry's got a charm ready to take care of it in a shot." Draco rattled off, feeling rather in the know. "Or at least some kind of ward or such to keep them away."

"Can't risk it." Kouichi sighed, turning a corner rather quickly as an unfamiliar shadow slipped by. "If we use magic, they'll find us almost instantly. As long as we keep the magic to a minimum, the demons won't know we're here until they can't stop us."

Draco scowled in annoyance. Magic could solve everything, he'd been taught, and not using it was a good way to get yourself killed, or at least, severely humiliated. Magic was what placed him above the Muggles and the Beasts, it was what made him superior to all living things. It was the greatest force known to any human…

A spasm of pain shot up his spine, originating from the almost-but-not-quite healed wounds on his back and chest. It was magic that had done _this_ to him, he remembered as an involuntary wince escaped, magic that had revealed his hesitations, magic that had put him into this situation in the first place…

"Here! This is it!"

Draco looked up at Kimura's voice. They were paused underneath what seemed to be a tall wooden guards tower, except that it was set up behind the shrine and in the middle of a thick grove of trees with no discernible purpose. The blonde examined the odd structure swiftly and discovered that, though the top of the platform was roughly thirty feet in the air, there was no way to get up to it.

Kouichi glanced around them hesitantly, not quiet glancing at the fox lanterns scattered around them, then aimed his wand at the bottom of the trapdoor and fired a swirling, golden blast. It struck a section in the middle square on and it fell open, ushering the fall of a long wooden ladder that Draco had to leap back to avoid.

"Hurry!" Kouichi urged, stowing away his wand and scrambling for the ladder. "They'll have felt that. Hurry, Draco-kun!"

The blonde went after him in a manner that would have been called scrambling for anyone else, but of course, he was a _Malfoy_ and Malfoys certainly _didn't_ scramble. He gripped the ladder and followed Kimura upward at a strikingly fast past.

Half-way up, an oddly icy chill around his ankles drew his eyes downward. Several of the fox lanterns had gathered underneath them and were sniffing around curiously, probably investigating the disturbance for their masters. At the sight of their dancing lights Draco felt his head swim and nearly released the ladder.

A shock of pain from his wounds brought him back to his senses and his body went rigid, especially the grip of his hands around the rungs of the ladder. He bit his lip and closed his eyes painfully, willing the ache away as his body began to shake a bit…

"Here. Let me help you."

Draco looked up at Kouichi, who was crouched on the platform and holding his hand out for the ailing boy. The blonde hissed slightly, forcing his aching body up the rungs of the ladder and through the hole. "I don't need your help."

Draco slammed the trap door down behind him, taking several deep breaths and gripping his wand tensely. The platform, if you could call it that, was extremely plain to his eye. It was nothing but a three meter square set of pale, light boards, nailed together in your average Muggle way, a plain wooden railing set up around the edges. There wasn't even a roof, just an open space in the trees that surrounded the shrine, the city lights glistening past the barrier of flora.

"What are we supposed to do in this place?" Sneered the foreigner, glancing around tensely.

"We're getting help." Kouichi reached down into a long hole between two of the boards, drawing out a long bow. In seconds he had it stringed, reaching down again to remove a thin arrow made of red wood, a sort of pink charm dangling from the end that normally had the feathers.

He stringed the arrow and stretched the bow taunt, crouching down. As Draco watched, slightly bewildered and slowly loosing his temper, the priest-in-training aimed directly upward and fired.

The arrow shot straight into the air, blasting past the trees and into the darkness of the sky before it exploded. A great red beacon appeared against the inky blackness of the night, red sparks flying from it like a gigantic firework. For a long moment, the entire shrine was engulfed in the crimson red light, then it faded away into the pale silver of the moonlight.

Draco stared up at it, then turned back. "What the hell was that?"

"Come on." Kouichi stashed the bow and moved to the trap door, flinging it open. "It won't take long for help to come, but now the demons know we're here. They'll be all over this tower in minutes."

"Now you tell me." Draco muttered, a light sneer on his lips, but leapt down the hole after Kouichi as the sounds of mad screeching filled the previously quiet night air.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

A light sort of laughter echoed through the secluded back alley as a certain group of six lifted themselves one-by-one out of the secluded manhole cover. Takuya was laughing especially loud as he nearly leapt out of the hole, whooping excitedly.

"That was _awesome_!" He cheered, punching the air. "Man, the look on Masamu's face when Aki grabbed the snitch from right under Natsuya's nose? Those were some awesome moves you showed her, Potter, I owe you one!"

Harry grinned wirily, leaning down to help Izumi out by the arm. Ron took a step forward to try and help Hermione, but the bushy-haired girl wiggled out of his grasp with a light cough.

Kouji was the last one out, sliding the cover closed behind them. He had a rather contemplative look on his face, frowning as though something was annoying him. Harry turned to the long-haired boy with a bit of concern. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing." Kouji snapped stubbornly, tapping the manhole cover into place.

Izumi frowned at him. "You've been acting weird all day." She accused. "What's the matter?"

"It's _nothing_." Kouji stressed again, hissing through his teeth. "Just a weird…feeling, that's all…"

Before anyone could ask him to elaborate, the sky burst to life with a huge flash of crimson fire.

Ron stumbled back from the sudden brightness, covering his eyes as an automatic reaction. "What the bloody hell?"

Harry's head snapped up. A huge flower of red sparks had blossomed in the not-too-distant distance, the crimson sparks blasting against the dark sky like a huge, bleeding gash. A closer look and he realized it was less of a flower and more of a firework, but he barely had time to realize this before it faded away into nothingness.

"What was…?"

"It's a signal. Kind of a call for help." Takuya muttered, his entire body tense. "You can only send it out if a gathering of wizards is in danger. And from the direction, I'd say it's coming from…"

"The shrine!" Izumi shrieked, hands over her mouth.

Kouji, who had been staring wide-eyed at the sudden light, burst into action. He darted down the street with a sudden burst of speed, whipping the bokuto from its hidden pocket even as the long jacket rustle about him like a cape. His steps were sure and swift, nearly sparking against the hard concrete as he ran.

"Hey, Minamoto!" Ron called after him, more than a little disorientated. "Where're you going?"

"It _is_ his job, Weasley." Takuya muttered, slightly distracted.

Hermione gave the group several worried looks. "You're not just going to let him go by himself, are you?"

"Of course not!" Izumi reached into the pocket of her skirt and whipped out her own kappa-tendon wand. "We're going with him."

"We're doing _what_?" Ron exclaimed.

"Well, we've got to do _something_." Izumi snapped. "Kouichi and Tomoki are in there!"

"Not to mention other kids. The students and stuff." Takuya added, snapping out his wand. "We've gotta do something. Get a move on!"

He took off after Kouji, with Izumi right on his heels. In a few quick second, Harry reached back and snatched out his own wand to follow them, Ron and Hermione right behind.

As they drew closer to the shrine itself, a sinking feeling slowly crawled into Harry's stomach. Whatever was happening, his intuition was already feeling guilty for it. But it couldn't have anything to do with _him_…

Could it?

_**TBC…**_

Yojimbo is an archaic term for a piece of wood that's set across the sliding doors to keep them from being opened. The term has also come to mean 'bodyguard' in a samurai sense. I couldn't think of anything else to call it.

The information Kimiko and Kouichi rattle off is very accurate to the way foxes behave in old myths. They've been known to take the form of pretty women to lure men into danger, though they've also been known to take the same form and marry the man, often saving his life with their magic for a happy ending.

The power of twelve badger-dogs roughly equals that of a single fox demon. In this fic.

Did anyone else notice that the Death Eaters' robes in the fourth movie look suspiciously similar to the Ku Klux Klan's? Give a hand to the costumers for noticing how similar the two groups are. They are especially comparable in that the hatred is trained into their children from generation to generation. That's part of what inspired Draco's inner rants.


	9. Demons Within

Y-You know, I h-hate it when I can't write. Writing is th-the way I work out my frustration, and when I can't write I k-kinda go into withdraw…(fetal position) I'm really glad I got this out…It makes me feel better.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 8: Demons Within**

Kouji remained firmly in the lead as the group charged through the streets and back alleys in a semi-direct route. They seemed to be taking various different shortcuts, so Harry felt rather relieved that the three Japanese wizards knew where they were going.

"We're almost there!" Takuya called back as they broke from yet another alley. He was pointing ahead of them, across a rather barren, though obviously somewhat major, street at what seemed to be a miniature forest of sorts. A set of white stairs wound up from the sidewalk and into the trees. "Those stairs are a back-entrance to the shrine."

"Come on, hurry!" Izumi urged. She was somewhat pulling Hermione by the arm every now and then, and she gave the other girl another tug now. "We don't have much time!"

A slight tinge bothered Harry's senses, and he looked up just in time to shout a warning. "Minamoto, watch out!"

Kouji had already dashed ahead of them and was halfway across the street before a beam of light suddenly fell across him. He paused only a moment, then jumped out of the way, shoving Takuya in the other as large red motorcycle roared through the spot where he'd been standing.

"HEY!" Ron shouted as he stumbled back. "Watch it!"

The cycle slid to a stop a few feet away, the rider lowering his black-booted foot to brace the kickstand. A long blue jacket blew out behind him, concealing most of the lithe body beneath but occasionally revealing black jeans and a white button-down shirt. He reached up and removed the slick blue helmet, revealing hawk-like green eyes and shaking out a waist-length blonde ponytail while at the same time disclosing that 'he' was in fact a 'she', an older woman of about thirty.

"Sempai!" Kouji gasped after a moment of silence, his body rigid and his grip hard around the bokuto.

"Minamoto." The woman nodded and dismounted the bike. "Should've known you'd be the first on the clock for a Shibuya Shrine case."

Her jacket, which fell only a bit short of her ankles, was identical to Kouji's in every way save the kinds of kanji that were sown into it. The symbols on the back of her coat read 'fire bird' or 'phoenix' when it was run through the translator, as well as a string reading 'Mizuki', which Harry could only assume was her name.

The woman left her bike on the side of the road, pulling a bokuto of her own from the same kind of inside pocket as Kouji. She tapped her weapon on the ground three times, muttering something under her breath, and with a rush of familiar transfiguration revealed a slick, gleaming katana.

"So what're we waiting for, Minamoto?" She snapped harshly, turning towards the steps. "Let's go!"

"Yes ma'am!" Kouji's bokuto hit the ground with the same three quick taps, shifting to a katana in the same way. The two shot up the stairs in an almost-perfect formation, leaving a rather flustered group behind.

"HEY!" Takuya shouted angrily, bursting into a run. "You're not just gonna leave us behind, Minamoto Kouji!"

He took off up the stairs after him. Izumi was on his heels, but paused a moment at the foot of the stone steps. "Hurry up!" She urged, and shot up the stairs, the rest of the group only a few steps behind.

Harry moved slower than he might have otherwise, for a heavy sense of dread was weighing on his mind…

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Two tall figures strode nimbly through the previously-locked, now-destroyed wood-and-paper sliding doors, entering the shrine with nary a care. They were both tall, though the brown-haired figure wrapped in various russet skins was around a head shorter than his crimson-haired, red-cloaked companion. Their skin was pale and their eyes sharp, they walked straight up with long, easy strides. However, the twitching, pointed ears at the top of their heads, the sharp claws adoring each finger and the long tails brushing against their ankles indicated that they were most definitely not human.

"Such a…quaint…little place." Hissed the red-haired fox demon, gazing around the abandoned shrine in disdain. "It's so…human."

"And so much of their magic." Sniffed his brown-haired companion. "Don't these fools every clean? Those wards are left around so carelessly, somebody could get hurt."

The other demon chuckled softly. "Humans are so careless with their toys, aren't they?"

The brown fox grinned brightly, his golden eyes sparkling devilishly. "So, do you suppose that little tattle-tale from the tower is running back scared yet?"

"Good question." The redhead smirked. "What do you say we sniff around a bit and find out? I smell a few…dozen…little wizardlings hiding around here somewhere."

"Stay away from those kids!"

The demons turned slowly at the voice. Kouichi was standing firmly in the ruins of the door, wand caught in a death grip in his hand as navy blue eyes glared viscously. Just over his shoulder, looking a bit paler than usual and rather annoyed, stood Draco Malfoy, whose thin body was tense and harsh all over.

"Well, isn't this a treat?" Sneered the red-haired demon in a testy, conniving tone. "Not just one little tattle tale, but a priestling and a tag-along. Two little wizard-louts of right about the right age."

"Right age?" Snapped Draco, wand ready.

"Not a treat. A problem." The brown fox frowned. "Which one's the right one? The Dark One will be testy if we bring back the wrong boy."

Draco stiffened at the odd, dark title, as did Kouichi, though the two reactions were both separate and unrelated. The blonde foreigner snapped his wand forward with a furious motion, casting a mental spell with all the force his skills in Occulmency could offer.

The target of the attack, the red-haired fox, simply side-stepped it and let it blow by, crashing through the thin wall behind him with a laugh. "Are you quite finished, human?"

Draco recoiled slightly with a light hiss.

"What, that really is all you've got?" The brown-haired fox laughed an aggravatingly delighted laugh, throwing his head back. "How amusing! Did you really think that would work, little boy?"

Kouichi took a slow step backwards, drawing his own wand stealthily from his pocket to tap at a piece of parchment magically attached to the outside of the door.

Instantly, a web of wards hidden behind the rice-paper lining of the walls burst to life, filling the room with a pale red glow. The demons recoiled instantly, hissing and shrieking in minute bits of pain.

"Draco, now!" Kouichi shouted, keeping his wand on the scroll. The blonde understood the order and charged forward, wand at the ready to blast the nearest demon into oblivion.

Suddenly, the red fox shot out with his claws and ripped the rice paper from the walls, shredding it into pieces. Yanking his hand back, he pulled with him a piece of parchment covered in black in, a seal of protection. With the chain connecting them all broken, the red light vanished as though someone had flipped a switch.

The shorter, brown fox recovered quickly, his long arms snapping out to catch Draco in mid-attack, slamming the blonde into the wall. Draco shouted loudly in pain as the half-healed wounds across his back suddenly re-opened, soaking his robes with crimson blood. The fox suddenly released him, dropping him roughly to the ground and splitting open the injuries across his chest and stomach. Blood spattered lightly around him and flowed into a puddle as the Malfoy heir lay gasping for breath.

"This one's already been wounded!" Sneered the brown-haired fox, mounting Draco's behind with both feet and sitting firmly in the small of the blonde's back, pulling his arms to pin him firmly. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Draco-kun!" Kouichi shouted, lunging forward. The red-haired demon intervened half was through the charge, appearing in front of him quite suddenly and sucker punched the priest-in-training firmly in the gut.

Kouichi doubled over, but not for long as the fox put folded his arms around the young man's neck and pulled him straight up. The motion was rough and sudden, resulting in a definite stranglehold and dropping the priest's wand to the floor.

"What's this now?" Sneered the brown fox, picking up the wand. "Kitsune tail-hair, is it?"

"Taken from one of our lesser brothers, no doubt." The redhead increased his grip, pulling his arms up further along the priest's neck. "Disgraceful."

"Indeed." The brown fox twirled the wand in fingers a moment, then snapped it cleanly in two.

Kouichi's expression was that of one who truly wanted to cry out in horror or anger, but was holding himself back to try and retain some form of dignity. But still, that was _his_ wand, the one his mother had saved for months to buy him after he'd been accepted into wizarding training. It had been perfect for him, the wand maker had said, 33 centimeters, made of ash, a strong Yin-supporter. And the wand core, the kitsune tail-hair the demons were so angry about, had only one other match, the one in Kouji's mahogany twin…

"_Kouji!"_ He called out through their ever-present mental connection, hoping upon hope that his brother was in range. "_Kouji, they're here…demons…help!"_

His thoughts, as well as any response they might have garnered, cut off with a strangled gurgle as the red fox tightened its grip on his throat. "A couple of fighting spirits in these boys, I see…"

"So what?" Hissed the brown fox, digging his claws a bit further into Draco's raw flesh. "Which one should we kill? We can kill one of them, can't we?"

"Of course we can." The red fox let a grin snake over his fanged lips as he tightened his arm around Kouichi's neck. "I say we get rid of the priestling. Less trouble for us later on, ne?"

His brown companion grinned. "Sounds good to me. C'mon, slit his throat! Let's see some blood!"

"You have no finesse." Sniffed the other fox. "There are much more entertaining ways to kill a human."

As he finished his sentence, he changed grip on his captive, spinning Kouichi around to face him. His clawed hands moved to wrap around the priest's throat and squeezed tightly. Kouichi's hands instantly went to grab the beast's wrists, trying to pry them off as a light cry escaped his gradually constricting airway. The red fox grinned devilishly and tightened ever more, lifting his prey up into the air and dangle several inches from the ground.

"Kimura…" Draco groaned, trying to pull himself up, but that was to no avail with the fox on his back. Said brown vulpus was laughing raucously and digging his claws further into the blonde's raw flesh, which was now dripping blood onto the rice paper floor of the shrine.

Kouichi struggled to either lower his feet to the ground or pry the creature's hands from his neck. He gasped, trying desperately to force air back into his lungs, but it was no use. The fox tightened his grip more, shaking him back and forth slow and thoroughly throttling him. His vision began to swim and a shadowed blackness blotted out the edge of his senses…

There was a sudden _CRASH!_ as the door suddenly blew in, crumpling over itself and crunching the thin paper it was made of. Bursting through the sudden break came Mizuki-sempai, leader of Exorcism Squad Number 8, followed closely by Kouji, both baring fiercely sharp katanas with samurai-esque expertise.

Kouji instantly shot across the room and swung at the fox holding his brother. The red creature yanked backwards to avoid the silver blade, dropping Kouichi as he did so. The priest-in-training dropped limply to the ground, slumped against the wall and didn't move.

The brown fox, on the other hand, was not so quick to move and found himself reeling backwards with a large red slice across his bare chest. He fell backwards with a savage hiss, backing away on all fours.

Mizuki-sempai leveled her sword at his throat. "Don't move."

"Foxes." Kouji snarled like a vicious wolf, corning the other demon ruthlessly, eyes blazing in anger. "Should've known."

"We did know." Mizuki muttered. "Something this bold and convoluted couldn't have been pulled off by anything less."

The red fox hissed, his tail flicking back and forth restlessly. "Don't let these puny creatures intimidate you," he warned his brown companion. "Just stand your ground. Remember the mission."

"Screw the mission!" Exclaimed the other demon, one hand clutching the bleeding gash across his chest. He reached into a robe pocket with his free hand, withdrawing a small glass ball full of golden mist. "Life's way more important than the reward!"

His hand moved before Mizuki could stop him. The glass ball smashed on the floor, the gas escaping all at once to consume the fox. When it cleared, there was brown-furred fox, the true form of the creature, standing in the humanoid creature's place. It shot forward and darted between Mizuki's legs, taking a running leap out the nearest window and disappearing into the woods.

"Coward!" Roared his red friend, starting forward. "I aught to…"

"You aught to what?" Mizuki spun around, lowering her sword at the demon's throat at the same level as Kouji's, who was glaring just as seriously. "Don't move, demon."

The fox hissed savagely.

Draco, now freed from the hold of the brown fox, pulled himself up to his hands and knees, gripping his still-bleeding stomach painfully. He hissed and bit his lip, focusing on the prone figure slumped against the wall.

"Shit, Kimura." He groaned, and pulled his aching body across to the other boy.

Kouji felt a pang of annoyance when he realized that Malfoy was checking his brother's condition…that was supposed to be _his_ job…but since he and Mizuki-sempai still had a certain demon to worry about, it couldn't be helped.

The red-haired fox snarled at him, bearing his fangs and claws. "I _will_ finish my mission, human!"

"Give it up, beast." Sneered Mizuki, raising her blade and taking a measured, guarded step forward. "You won't take this shrine."

The fox's smirk widened at the words, as though laughing at her suggestion, but before he could say anything more a female voice echoed through the room. "Kouji, what on earth is…Oh my god!"

Kouji snapped his head around. Izumi had managed to catch up with them and was now standing in the nearly-demolished doorway, her eyes wide in horror at the blood and wreckage and demon.

Said fox saw his opportunity and took it, lunging forward to break past the younger of the two Squad members, slashing him with razor-sharp claws in the process. A cry of pain raked from Kouji's throat, accompanied by the sounds of tearing cloth and skin as three long, deep gashes appeared across his left shoulder.

Izumi drew in a sharp gasp. "Kouji!"

"Don't just stand there, girl!" Mizuki bellowed, mere seconds before the fox changed his course and leapt for the girl, claws ready to strike.

"Izumi, get down!"

The blonde complied to the sudden shouted order, diving to the right of the demon as the creature came at her. A meteor of green and blue sparks shot through the shattered doorway, slamming into the fox's chest and blasting him back several feet.

Takuya followed his spell into the room, wand held at the ready. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Izumi was on her feet in an instant. "But, oh god…Kouichi!"

She dashed across the room, pointedly ignoring her attacker or the danger she had been in seconds before. Kouji and Mizuki, on the other hand, were utterly focused on the enemy, especially as he shrank and vanished into the floor with a deep laugh and a plume of sulfurous, pungent smoke.

"What the hell?" Takuya coughed, waving away the fumes.

"It was a trick." Mizuki sneered. "He got away…But he's bound to be around here someplace."

She dug a cell phone from her pocket and pressed the first speed-dial button, tense even as she began a rapid conversation with one of her superiors. Kouji reached back with his right hand to check his bleeding shoulder wound and, upon discovering that it was not as bad as first appeared, raced over to where his brother was lying.

Izumi was already checking the priest-in-training over worriedly and spoke up as soon as she saw Kouji's worried expression. "He's just unconscious," she assured. "He's breathing, he's got a pulse, he's alive, Kouji. It think he's going to be okay…but, oh god, there's so much blood everywhere…"

"Brilliant, woman." Draco scowled, clutching his stomach, which was not bleeding anymore but still quite painful. "You figured that out so quickly."

Izumi looked up, startled from her hazed cloud of concern to come to the sudden realization that Malfoy was leaning against the wall on Kouichi's other side. The two blonde met eyes and stared at each other for a long, slightly shocked moment.

"…What?" Snapped the foreigner.

Harry Potter was just about to step through the broken door behind them, so he was the first of the group to hear Izumi's shocked, echoing cry. "Malfoy!"

_**TBC…**_

Unlike Harry, Draco is a very skilled Legilimens, according to Rowling-sama herself. To be perfectly honest, I'm not that surprised - he seems much more thoughtful and introverted, while Harry is more extroverted and shows much afterthought, but not a lot of forethought. Part of the reason they don't get along, I suppose.


	10. Unfotunate Discovery

Originally, this was going to be one really _long_ chapter. But then I hit writer's block and decided you guys would prefer to see this much now, rather than wait another three weeks or so. Enjoy.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 9: Unfortunate Discoveries**

Harry was scowling. He'd worn this expression for much of the past school year and the several months of traveling from one country to another, but he'd started to have some safe relief in the fact that it hadn't adorned his face once in since he'd entered Japan.

However, he found it quite impossible to keep the scowl away now, especially since one Draco Malfoy currently right across from him, just on the opposite side of the large room, his newly re-wrapped bandages being checked diligently by Kimura as a rather short Exorcism Squad member (wearing a large lime green band on his upper right arm) packed up the healing potions.

Malfoy, naturally enough, mirrored Harry's expression right back at him, but it softened into one of mild indifference every time he turned back to speak with Kouichi. For some reason, that annoyed Harry more than anything. Seeing Draco Malfoy, the Death Eater, his hatred rival since their first moments in Hogwarts, acting familiar and almost _friendly_ with someone like _Kimura_, who'd he'd betrayed and assisted in kidnapping, just made Harry…He couldn't find a word for it, but it was something between furious and sick to his stomach.

He was so focused on the feeling that he nearly jumped a foot when a cold, wet cloth wrapped around the gash on his upper arm. The sudden scent of sour, icily burning potion invaded his nose, and Hermione's voice broke through to his ears.

"You know, Harry, that's not really the way to present yourself when entering a foreign sanctuary."

Harry's scowl deepened, this time aimed at his female friend as the potion quickly healed the gaping spell-wound. "He attacked first."

"No, _you_ did." Izumi muttered from not-too-far-away, sitting beside the wall with Takuya. "All _he_ did was go for his wand. You fired the first shot, Potter."

A light blush spread over Harry's cheeks, a red one of shame and contained anger. It was true that his first instinct upon laying eyes on Malfoy was to try and blast the damn fool's head off, and the blonde had retaliated, mildly wounding both Harry and the surrounding remains of the doorframe.

Harry and Ron, lying on his back not too far away, were both rather annoyed with the other young man's presence. Surely Harry's pent-up rage was…_understandable_ at least, given the person in question and the circumstances under which they'd last seen each other.

And besides, Malfoy was a _Death Eater_, so what in the name of hell was he doing here in the first…

The door slid open suddenly and Kouji walked into the room, looking rather exhausted. He had a lightly-bleeding scratch on his right cheek, and a large blue bruise was rising up from under his collar. He rubbed his neck painfully and slide down to the floor with a light groan. Harry didn't blame him - though the Squad had taken over the search for and extermination of demons soon after their initial arrival, his own body ached and screamed at him angrily, chastising him for not going to sleep all night long, as Ron had.

"You okay, Kouji?" Tomoki asked worriedly. He was the only one of the kids who, after being released from their warded hiding place by Kouichi, hadn't been sent home with their parents.

"Just tired." Sighed the guardian, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He massaged his neck with one hand. "I think we've got nearly all of 'em…Tanuki, mostly, a couple of stray cats."

Harry nodded in understanding. They'd seen quite a few of the badger-like creatures leaping into and out of the woods as they'd charged up here. One of them had gotten Hermione lightly on the ankle, the reason she and Ron had lagged behind slightly.

"They're nothing special. Common rat-hole hiders, most of 'em wet themselves and gave up the minute they saw the Squad." Kouji shook his jacket out slightly to illustrate his casual talk. "The only problem is…there's an awful lot of them…"

Takuya cocked his head curiously to one side. "More than usual, you mean?"

"Exactly that."

Kouji's body went through a rather conditioned spasm that would have normally set him at strict attention, but the fact that he was sitting down limited his motions to jerking backwards and banging his head on the wall. Mizuki-sempai smirked down at him rather irritatingly as she passed by.

Her green hawk-eyes scanned the room contemplatively, falling on each of the teens who had 'followed' them into the attack, and especially checking on the blonde boy they'd found nearly unconscious from both pain and blood loss. She bent at the waist to check his progress and received a scowl in return, but, used to deal with tough-attitude teenage boys, she just grinned.

"Looks like everyone's doing all right then." She straightened, brushing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Good. Wouldn't be much of a rescue mission if someone got wasted…"

"Hold on a sec!" Ron sputtered, sitting straight up. He hadn't been hurt or even scratched up, just generally lazy as usual. "Don't just change the subject like that, lady! What the hell do you mean by-"

He had to cut off then, because Mizuki spun around and connected a sharp kick to the side of his head, knocking him over hard but skillfully avoiding any actual damage. "Watch your tongue when speaking to a lady, young man."

Harry instantly recorded that to memory, and understood in flash why Kouji and the rest of the Squad was willing to jump at her every command.

"I think I know what he means, ma'am…" Hermione cleared her throat lightly, nodding to the woman respectfully without rising from her sitting position. "What did you mean by 'exactly that'. This kind of thing…isn't normal?"

Mizuki's eyes darkened, but not in the way they had when she'd attacked Ron. "No. This isn't normal at all."

Kouji glanced up at her with a knowing expression and pulled away, crossing to check on his brother. Mizuki followed him with her eyes, but, finding nothing she could object with, took a deep breath and continued with her explanation.

"Demons are relatively solitary creatures, operating alone more often than not. Even when they do work in groups, they are usually no larger than three or four animals strong." Her frowned deepened another few wrinkles worth. "This group was larger. Much larger. At least twenty Tanuki, eight cats and two high-level foxes, no less than five tails each. An attack that large, on a place where they consciously knew there would be several wizards ready to defend, couldn't have been constructed by demons alone."

"Wait…" Izumi sat up straighter. "So you mean there was someone controlling them?"

"Commanding them, more accurately. Most likely a human. A wizard." Mizuki narrowed her eyes sharply, her hand resting on the hilt of her sheaved sword. "And to direct that many demons at once, it would have to be a very powerful one…with Some very malicious motives."

Harry narrowed his eyes. There was a short list of people that burst to his mind instantly at that simple description, but they all boiled down to the same common denominator. And one of them was sitting right across the room…

"But, there's no time to fret about that. There's one place left to check." The blonde woman brushed her hair back again and strode over to the three boys leaning against the opposite wall with a light grin on her face. "Kimura-san, how is your neck doing?"

The young priest touched the bandages around his bruised throat contemplatively, but smiled at her. "Just fine, Mizuki-san."

"Good, good." Mizuki nodded. "You did here that we found Kenkyo-san? She's shaken up and a little delirious, but she looks like she'll be fine. Took on eight Tanuki on her own, the old devil, always knew she was stubborn as a mule."

Izumi giggled behind her, but most of the others were too anxious around Mizuki to do so. The leader of the Exorcism Squad just grinned, however, and turned back to Kouichi again.

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fine Hakaishi-san yet." She explained. "The only place left to check on the shrine grounds is the _Yami no Jinjya_, and I'm afraid the doors are locked."

Harry leaned over to Takuya and Izumi at the same moment that Hermione asked the question he'd been reaching for: "The Yami know what?"

"_Yami no Jinjya_." Izumi explained softly. "Literally the 'Shrine of Darkness'. It's a place only the Yin-based wizards can enter."

"How come?" Ron asked, a bit lamely.

"Well, one, it's against the rules." Takuya pushed his goggles further up his forehead smartly. "It's kinda of a tit-for-tat thing, since there are plenty of places that are the Yang-only type. It's only fair there should be someplace just for them, too."

"Besides, it's specifically made to support and balance Yin-based spells." Izumi added brightly. "Yang-wizards like us can get pretty disoriented if you hang out in there too long. You can get pretty sick if you're in there too long."

Hermione still looked confused. "But if the door's still locked, why do you need to worry about it?"

"It's the best place for a Yin wizard to fortify himself against an attack." Mizuki said simply. "Hakaishi-san might have hidden from the demons in there and passed out. If that's the case, he'll need medical attention right away.

"However…" She turned to Kouichi with a light nod. "The only ones with a key to the Yami no Jinjya are the Yin-type priests. Hakaishi has one of them, naturally. Which means the other one must be…"

"Right here." Kouichi tugged at the leather cord around his neck, pulling a tarnished silver key from the folds of his robe.

Malfoy leaned over to examine the object without touching it. An untrained observer would think it nothing but a normal old key, but a trained wizard such as himself could tell that it contained a very specific unlocking spell that would only work on one magical lock. How interesting…

"If you don't mind opening it for us, Kimura-kun, we'll get this taken care of and get out of everyone's way." Mizuki nodded. "That okay?"

"Yeah…sure." Kouichi shrugged. Kouji popped up quickly and helped his brother to his feet. Draco scowled a bit and leaned against the wall, obviously annoyed that he had to stay behind but without the physical energy to do so.

Harry, partly out of curiosity and partly out the evil little desire to annoy Malfoy as much as possible, followed after them as they left. He heard a distinct hiss behind him and felt a nice glow of satisfaction.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The Yami-no-Jinjya looked more like a shed, with a plain red roof and white walls with plain brown double doors. A truly observant eye might have noticed that it was situated right where the first shadows of evening would fall when evening set it, but it wasn't so obvious now, as the sun began to rise lazily in the east and the light was slipping through the trees and into the shrine.

Mizuki and Kouji both had their blades out and ready as Kouichi approached the door. "Just unlock it, Kimura-kun. Don't open it." Mizuki warned. "It could still be a trap. Let us go in first."

"Okay." Kouichi stepped up to the door and slipped the key into the lock. He turned it, the tumbles falling into place easily.

The priest backed off. Izumi, hovering several feet away with Harry and Takuya, took a deep breath as the two squad members advanced forward and slipped into the doors. "Oh, I've got a bad feeling."

Unfortunately enough, she proved to be right, as Kouji suddenly reappeared through a small gap in the doors and slammed it shut behind him, gasping slightly as though suddenly without breath.

"What's the matter?" Takuya's body went rigid instantly.

"Nothing. Nothing's the matter." Kouji said so it was clear that there _was_ something wrong. He took a few deep breaths and took a few steps away from the door. "Nii-san, don't go in there."

Kouichi looked surprised, as did the others. "Um…What?" Izumi asked innocently.

"Don't ask. Just don't go in there." Kouji snapped.

Kouichi examined his brother's features a moment, then started moving. Kouji spun around as his brother pushed past him, seizing the doors. "Nii-san!"

Kouichi opened the doors…and stopped dead.

Everything about the mini-shrine was crimson red. Harry took in a sharp breath when he realized that the entire interior of the small shed was soaked in blood. The artifacts that had obviously been stored there for protection were completely drenched in the red substance, the walls were splattered, even the ceiling had been hit. And in the middle of the room, Mizuki was knelling beside a prone form lying flat on his back, also covered in blood and wrapped in a familiar white robe.

"Oh…my…god…" Izumi whispered, her hand over her mouth.

Takuya's eyes widened. "Ha…Hakaishi…"

"Sen…sei…" Kouichi stuttered lightly, and slumped backwards in a dead faint.

Harry lunged and grabbed the dark-haired young man before he could hit ground, sliding down with him to support him as best he could. Kouji was instantly next to them, a panicked look on his face, so Harry tried to pacify him with a supportive smile. "It's alright. He's just fainted."

"Must be from the shock." Mizuki muttered, coming over. She checked the prone form's pulse lightly. "…Yup. Don't blame him. It's an awfully big blow."

She sighed, turning back to glare at the bloody room, as though it was somehow responsible for the priest's death. "This does bode well…Not at all…"

_**TBC…**_

Remember how (in OotP) the Healers in Saint Mungo's wore lime green? Color-coded concepts like that tend to spread across countries, especially to a place like Japan, which manages to incorporate a little of ever country that comes in contact with it.

Tanuki - Raccoon-dogs. A class of demons with illusion powers similar to foxes, but not quite as powerful and with an attitude more like the trickster Coyotes of Native American myths than the conniving, often villainous foxes.

"…_five tails each."_ - Depending on the legend, fox demons either earn more tails as they get stronger, or gain their strength as they add tails over hundreds and hundreds of years. Either way, the number of tails equals the strength of the fox. The maximum is nine (except in the case of the Mother Fox, who had either 10 or 10,000) so five tails is pretty darn strong. For those who know Yoshihiro Togashi's _Yu Yu Hakusho_, this is a handy bit of reference: Youko Kurama has, in about a millennia, earned himself five tails.

'Jinjya' is the best translation I can do of the hiragana in my Japanese 2 textbook. (Idiots print it way too small for us visually-challenged types…)


	11. Draco's Secret

Sorry I haven't done much this past week, but I dedicated a good chunk of the long Easter weekend to working on novels. The first one, _Akari_, is nearly finished, and I'd like to get it done before the school year is out in…five weeks. GAH!

So please be patient with me! I promise, I'll keep up with the fics to matter what!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 10: Draco's Secret**

Tomoko Kimura bustled through the relatively meager kitchen of her apartment, carefully cleaning up after preparing some box lunches for the Squad and the others who had been working at the 'demon-attack site' for the past several hours. It was a way to keep her mind off of things, but in truth, she was worried.

Not only was one of her sons a Squad member - out on call late at night, facing all manner of vicious and deadly demons at all hours of the day - but according to the messenger-owl they'd dispatched to her, the target of the attack was the Shrine where her Kouichi-kun worked.

Tomoko sighed. Both her sons in the throng of what could very likely be grave danger, and here she was, unable to do a thing but make a few bento boxes and some sandwiches. And it didn't help that Yugure, the half-Knarl cat who had clung to Kouichi's ankles since his return from England, hadn't stopped making noise all night.

The cat in question now sat at the window facing down the street, that is, towards the shrine, and she was mewling rather pitifully. Her cat-cries echoed off the glass and back into the kitchen rather pitifully. Her golden eyes were focused far into the distance as she continued to whine pitifully.

"Oh, Yugure-chan." Tomoko cooed, coming over to stroke the cat from head to toe. "Are you worried about Kouichi-kun, sweetheart?"

The cat butted against her hand and mewed again. Tomoko sighed and gazed out the window once more, putting a few fingers on the cool glass. She pulled her hand back, its companion still stroking the cat, and clutched it close to her chest to pray.

"_Kouichi…Kouji…Please take care of each other."_

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouichi came to rather slowly, though the first thing that actually registered was just how much his head hurt. This wasn't too surprising, as a complete mental shut-down takes time to reboot, and coming out of it is often rather painful. He knew that as well as anyone, probably better.

The second thing he registered was Tomoki's voice, a loutish sort of cry from beside him. "Kouji, come here! I think he's waking up!"

Her voice was followed by Hermione's, much softer. "Shh. You're too close to be yelling like that."

And the third thing that registered was the memory of their peaceful Yami-no-Jinjya, all of its scrolls and artifacts soaked in crimson blood, nearly all of it sacrificed from the limp body of his precious teacher…

It registered in his mind with a dull shock and he sat straight up in the futon sleeping pallet with a gasp. "Sensei!"

"Calm down, Kimura-kun." Mizuki's voice whispered, putting a caring hand on his shoulder and guiding a cup of buttercup-yellow, honey-scented potion to his lips. "Here, drink up. This'll get you back up in no time."

Kouichi took the cup and sipped it idly, but he had no real interest in it. It wasn't like he'd actually been hurt, even by the fall. Besides, it was just a Cheering Serum, even he could tell that by its scent and its taste. He didn't feel like being cheered up.

Kouji sat next to him, on the other side from Tomoki, his arms resting on his crossed legs, and reached over to hold Kouichi's hand warmly. They didn't say anything, but nothing needed to be said. The priest-in-training was still listening to the constant rhythm of his barely-coping mind: "_Sensei's gone…He's dead…Sensei's dead…Hakaishi-sensei…"_

Izumi leaned over, whimpering worriedly. "Kouichi…"

"Shh." Mizuki put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Give him some time now, dear."

"No…" Kouichi forced a grin over his face. "I'm okay, Mizuki-san. Really."

The Squad leader clicked her tongue disbelievingly and waved her finger. "All the same, you aught to take it easy for an hour or so, Kimura-kun. We don't want you overexerting yourself unnecessarily or having an attack. Understand?"

Kouichi sighed. "Yes ma'am."

"Good." The woman straightened from her bent-over position, about to address Kouji now, but she was interrupted by a commotion from across the room.

"I _told_ you, don't touch me!"

It was Draco's voice, echoing from across the grand hall with a high, indignant tone. There was Squad Healer next to him, a rather sheepish-looking young man with silver hair (clearly charmed, as his highlights sparkled yellow-gold like bright stars) and a lime green lining on his jacket, who was attempting to remove the blonde's bandages and change them for clean ones.

The sheepish man was trying to reason with his foreign charge. "If we don't change them, they're liable to get infected…"

"Leave me alone!" Malfoy snapped again, wrenching his arm from the man's grasp. "I don't need your help!"

Harry, sitting against the wall not far from Kouichi and the others, scowled at the blonde and shot him the patent-worthy Death Glare that Sirius had taught him. Ron glowered in a similar position, mumbling a few blasphemies under his breath that Mrs. Weasley still would have slapped him for. Hermione took in an annoyed huff, putting her hands on her hips and facing their long-time rival. "_Honestly_, Malfoy…"

"Stay out of this, Mudblood!" Snarled Malfoy.

Kouji snatched Harry's wrist as he went for his wand and gripped it roughly as a lupine growl escaped his lips. "Don't even think about it, Potter."

Harry turned to glared at the Squad member, but was easily outdone. Malfoy turned his scowl back to the man trying to help him, a poisonous, serpentine glare. The Healer groaned and looked to Mizuki for help.

"Mr. Malfoy," the Squad Leader clicked her tongue, one hand resting on the helm of her sword, charmed back into a simple wooden bokuto. "Those bandages do need to be changed before your wounds get worse than they already are."

Malfoy gave her a hostile look, but said nothing. The woman sniffed lightly. "Now are you going to let Kokuru-san work on it, or am I going to have to…"

"I'll do it."

Heads turned to stare at Kouichi, whose soft words managed to cut through the orders and the arguing like a warm knife. The priest-in-training pushed himself out of the futon and away from the worried bunch with a pleasant smile, his eyes falling on Draco kindly.

Kouji immediately snapped a hand onto his brother's shoulder. "You're not supposed to be out of bed yet!"

"I'm fine, Kouji. Really." Kouichi said softly, giving his brother and friends a complacent gesture. He climbed to his feet without help and made his way over to where Malfoy was sitting, bowing a bit to the Healer. "I'll take it from here, Kokuru-san."

"Better you that me, pal." Kokuru groaned, backing off. "Though are you sure you're up to this?"

"Of course." Kouichi smiled again and gently helped Malfoy up by the arm. "We won't have any trouble, now will we, Draco?"

The blonde scowled, but gave none of his usual curt replies or struggling as the two walked off to a small, unoccupied room not too far away.

Ron blew his bangs up in annoyance, quite likely looking for a reason to pick a fight with Malfoy and having now been foiled in his attempt. "What a selfish little creep."

"If you're talking about Kouichi…"

"I meant Malfoy!" Ron exclaimed, cutting off Izumi's angry retort before it could get started. "I mean, honestly, where does he get off treating Kimura like some kinda servant? The poor guy's practically in mourning, and Malfoy still expects to be waited on hand and foot!"

Harry nodded in feverish agreement, having been thinking the same thing just a few moments before. After it was revealed that the blonde was sulking about, Kouichi had to admit that he'd been caring for Malfoy's wounds for several weeks before they had arrived. Kouji had filled in what details they knew, but it basically boiled down to Malfoy living off of Kouichi and Tomoko with no explanation…

Mizuki sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "You know, I actually think this is the best thing Malfoy-kun could've done for him."

"Say what?" Takuya exclaimed.

There was a sly smirk on the Squad Leader's lips as all eyes turned to her. "He thrives on helping people, Kimura-kun does. He's such a sweet kid. I imagine that caring for a friend's wounds would calm him just about as much as anything we could do."

Kouji nodded absently in agreement. His brother did always turn to charity work when he was upset by things, grades or money or just the stress of life, to get his mind off his problems…

"It must be dear Ms. Tomoko's blood, I suppose." Mizuki smirked, her eyes drifting to her young charge. "Minamoto-kun here's the same way, at heart."

Kouji blinked in surprise, taken aback by what could have been a compliment from his commanding officer. But before it all had time to quite register with him, there was a flutter of wings and a large, gray owl suddenly flew through the rafters, gripping a folded square of parchment in its beak.

"Oh…Yurei!" Izumi sighed, putting a hand to her chest with a relieved sigh.

Yurei fluttered down and landed on his master's shoulder, dropping the parchment into Kouji's lap with a light hoot. The Squad member unfolded the note and ran his eyes over it, stroking his pet's feathers quietly.

"Sempai." He called. "Look at this."

Mizuki walked over and took it from him, taking only a second to look it over. "From Headquarters." She muttered, noting the small red seal at the bottom. "Looks like they want a damage and situation report right away…and they want you along with me, Minamoto."

Kouji didn't gulp, but Takuya did it for him. That sounded bad.

"Right then." Mizuki tapped her bokuto on the floor. "On your feet and let's get out of here."

Kouji scrambled up, Yurei fluttering back up into the rafters with a few other owls. "But sempai…Nii-san…"

"I'm sure it won't take long, we'll be back in a twitch." Mizuki rattled off. "Now get a move on. We don't want to make them mad, now do we?"

She spun on her heels and Apparated away.

Kouji sighed an annoyed, defeated sigh and glanced at Izumi and Takuya. "Make sure he's okay, all right?"

"No problem, buddy." Takuya winked and gave thumbs-up.

"Good luck." Hermione said kindly.

Kouji gave her a relatively thankful wave, then disappeared after Mizuki.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouichi carefully removed the light white button-down shirt from around Draco's shoulders, exposing his bandage-wrapped back, arms and shoulders to the lightly-chilled air of the small room. Draco's pale, thin shoulders shuddered lightly at the sudden cold, then he winced a little at the ripple of pain that rolled up his back.

"Are you all right, Draco-kun?" Kouichi asked softly, folding the shirt and laying it to the side.

The Malfoy hissed. "I'll be fine. Just hurry up and get this over with.

Kouichi nodded, beginning to carefully unravel the layers of potion-enhanced white gauze with his hands so he would not irritate the gaping wounds that crisscrossed across his pale skin. The bandages were soaked with blood and the remains of a lime green healing salve, give the lower layers a tinge of a disgusting brown color. Every now and then, Draco wince as his wounds were exposed, prompting whispered apologies from the priest-in-training that were not responded.

Kouichi's blue eyes trailed up and down the other boy's body, checking the wounds he now knew well to make sure they had not been damaged further by the fox's rough assault. His gaze landed on the insider of Draco's right arm, the lower half just above his wrist, finding once again the reason the foreign boy refused to be helped by strangers.

A black skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a tongue was etched deep in the pale white flesh, a searing mixture of black and green that indicated none other than an enchanted tattoo.

The Dark Mark.

Kouichi rolled the bandages up into a bunch and set them aside for disposal. As he reached for a new roll and a bottle of salve, he took a deep breath. "Were they looking for you, Draco-kun?"

Draco winced. He knew that was coming.

"Maybe." He muttered. "I've never heard of Him using fox demons, but it's not impossible. Dark creatures always flock to Him for support and leadership…at least, the weak-minded of them."

Kouichi was quiet a moment longer. He, of course, was technically a 'dark creature' himself, as the black and gray Digivice hidden beneath his bed readily indicated. He knew that this was part of why Draco had included the 'weak-minded' part, but he was certain that there must have been…more…

"If the Dark Lord wished to speak with you," he whispered softly, applying the salve to his hand and preparing to rub it into the wounds, "would he not simply summon you, Draco-kun?"

Draco winced, and then bit his lip to muffle a cry as the cleansing, yet still unnatural, salve hit his bared wounds. A few of them bubbled with avocado green foam, hissing a bit as the potion evaporated in a musty sea foam vapor that smelled of moth balls.

Through the pain, he managed to grunt a few words. "He wouldn't…call me…"

Kouichi continued applying the salve in a gentle manner, but he didn't pause quite as much as he might have before. The string of the salve turned into a blazing field of pain over the blonde's back, not enough to cause any real damage, but more than enough to change the groans into muffled yells of surprise. The vapor hovered over the room like a light fog, tinting everything a greenish hue.

"Hakaishi-sensei pretended to be my father at no less than four parent visitation days." Kouichi muttered, not looking directly at the other boy and focusing instead on the salve and the wounds. "He's the only man who would ever do something like that for me. He taught me everything I know, he protected me and cared for me when Mama couldn't. He meant the world to me.

"Those creatures _killed_ him, Draco." He picked up the clean bandages and put down the bottle. "I think I deserve to know why."

Draco didn't say anything for a long while, letting the pain dumb down into a mild sting while the clean gauze hide them once again. "…It was Dumbledore's fault."

"Dumbledore-sama's?" Kouichi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's the one who put those _goddamn_ thoughts in my head." Draco growled. His voice rose suddenly into a mimicry of the wise old man's. "'_Let us discuss your options, Draco. Come over to right side, you are not a killer. It is my mercy, not yours, that matters now'_!"

He spat the last words as though they were some violent curse, his pale face contorted with rage. Kouichi took a breath as if to say something, but, as Malfoy was now on a role, he decided to let the blonde continue.

"And I couldn't even shut the old fool up!" Now Draco seemed generally angry at himself. "And then Sn…Severus…had to do it _for_ me, then dragged me off like some kind of child. He told the Dark Lord I had done it, of course, to cover my tracks, but with all his oh-so-powerful Legilimency He _still_ found out the truth. I. Failed."

Kouichi continued wrapped the bandages, quietly and carefully. "What happened then, Draco-kun?"

Draco sniffed, noticing the return of the respectful tone and the friendship ending to his name, rather than the harsh Slytherin-born tone the priest had used before. "I failed."

Kouichi nodded.

"But He didn't kill me. Said it would be counter-protective. Said Dumbledore forced his stupid morals into my head, cluttering my thoughts and my decisions. I needed to be shown back to the true path, he said, right back to the truth, and then he'd make the decision to kill me or not."

Kouichi's eyes fell on the wounds and scars, re-recognizing a sort of pattern that he'd noticed before. "Whips?"

"Charmed ones. Right in my own bloody house."

"And Crucio, no doubt."

Draco's snarl darkened perceivably. "He made my mother do it. Said He'd kill us all three if she didn't."

"And…would you have liked her to refuse?" Kouichi asked softly.

Two pairs of blue eyes met each others', one dark, one icy. Draco's sneer held a bit of a smirk now. "Hell no."

Kouichi smiled, just a little.

"Snape let me out." Draco continued. "Got Him to give me a reprieve, a sort of test. 'Find somebody outside our circle', he said, 'and see how they're doing with their lives. See if you like _it_ any better.' Next thing, I'm out in the middle of bloody nowhere, with nowhere to go, nobody to see, and not enough blood to spend too much time thinking about it."

Kouichi thought for a moment, going over the list of Slytherins in his head. Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, Parkinson…All of them that he could imagine Draco going to…they were all Death Eaters, or family of them, or sympathizers with them, or harbors. They all had some kind of connection with Voldemort, that's why they had kept close to one another. All except for…

Himself.

"So that's why you came here." He whispered softly, fastening the last fold of the bandages. "To get away from them. And you knew they'd follow you here…eventually. So that's why…"

Draco was silent, and he didn't look at the priest as he packed away the charmed Healing items, picking the shirt up from the floor and draping it around the pale, bandage-wrapped shoulders.

"So that's why…you stopped writing."

Draco looked up in mild surprise. Kouichi was folding the dirty gauze into a paper napkin for disposal, a far away look on his face. "Right before my graduation, your letters stopped coming. You'd been so hurried, so desperate before, that when they stopped…I worried."

He looked up with the eyes of a child, tying the bloody bandages into a diaper-like bundle. Draco met his gaze, uncertain, unsure.

"I worried for you, Draco-kun."

And there was silence in the small room once again.

_**TBC…**_

I imagine the Death Eaters are very, very much like the KKK. When members of the Klan start to 'stray from the path', they use torture and imprisonment to keep them in. Sometimes they even brainwash them. I imagine that wizards can do much worse, if they so choose.


	12. Slytherin Sentiments

Well, I apologize for taking so long, but I'm currently in the 'editing' portion of my novel's first draft, and I'm doing my best to get that done before anything else. However, I did work to get this chapter up before I leave for my Youth Group's mission trip on Thursday, where I'll be in Louisiana until a week from Saturday. Sorry, everybody, but I'm a bit disappointed, too - a whole week with no laptop, nothing but a notebook, and while that might work for some more fic chapters, the chances are slim. They work us to death out there…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 11: Slytherin Sentiments**

Kouji waited until the silver automatic door slid shut behind their party of two, then took his normal, expected position of guarding it by leaning against the wall, arms crossed loosely over his chest and one hand ready to grab his weapon should the need arise.

Mizuki-sempai gave him a slight glance to make sure the well-trained process was occurring to her satisfaction, which it was, then tuned him out almost completely and advanced to the desk in the center of the grand rooftop office. She snapped to a strict attention, moving automatically into a low bow.

"Himura-sensei." She addressed the gray-haired man sitting in the plush seat behind the finely-carved mahogany desk.

Himura, the reigning Master Commander of the Kanto Region Exorcism Squad Units, nodded to the woman as a sign of mutual respect. "Mizuki-san." His amber eyes turned to glance at the boy against the wall. "And young Minamino-kun, isn't it? The young man who advanced to _Ha_-rank within his first year of training, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Kouji gave his superior a light bow and refraining from mentioning that the former Ha officer of his particular Squad had been murdered in his sleep by a vengeful demon not long after Kouji had been initiated, leaving the spot open earlier than anyone could have expected.

"Very impressive, indeed." Himura nodded, straightening the papers on his desk, then set them aside. "Now then…This incident at Shibuya Shrine. What is the current situation?"

Mizuki launched into her prepared report, giving a detailed explanation of the number of demon carcasses left behind, the number known still loose, the wizards whether they be grown, teen or child, left inside; etc. Kouji tuned it out, keeping his eyes watchfully on the door, but his keen skills couldn't help noticing Himura's amber eyes wandering back to him every now and then.

"…And that's about it, Himura-sensei."

"I see." Himura nodded quietly. "And what is your suggestion, Mizuki-san?"

The squad leader took a deep breath before she spoke again. "Sir, I believe our best option at the moment is to order a total quarantine of the area until tomorrow afternoon."

Himura raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh? Is that really the best plan of action?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sure of it." Mizuki's hawk-gaze narrowed sharply once more, and Kouji shuddered just the minutest bit. "The demons were being controlled by an outside force, one that was looking for something…or someone. There is high reason to suspect that their goal is still inside the shrine or on one of the people inside of it. For their own protection, it would be best to keep them within the shrine where the Squad can guard them if the demons attack again."

"I see…" Himura steepled his fingers in a thoughtful manner, thinking it over for only a moment before he pulled over a blank form and his wand. With a few taps, the form was instantly filled out, and he pushed it to Mizuki. "There you are. The Shrine is now under completely lockdown under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, Demonic Response Division. You're in charge."

Mizuki took the page and bowed again. "Thank you, sir."

Himura smirked. "Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Mizuki saluted again, then spun around and strode for the door. "Minamoto. Let's role."

Kouji nodded, pushing off the wall to his own two legs and preparing to follow his sempai out before a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Minamoto-kun."

The younger Squad member turned back at Himura's voice. The Commander was giving him a pleasant sort of cold smile, leaning over his desk a bit. "I asked that Mizuki bring you here for a reason, you know. I'd like to speak with you alone a moment, if you wouldn't mind."

Kouji hesitated a moment and glanced after Mizuki, but she had already disappeared. He sighed and crossed back to stand in front of the desk. "Yes, sir?"

Himura gave him another pleasant nod and turned back to the stacks of papers on his desk, pulling out a plain, unmarked folder and flipping it open to scan the pages. "I've been following your career very carefully, Minamoto-kun. It's been very impressive thus far…You have an exceptional talent for this field, probably the most potential I've ever seen in a young recruit."

"Thank you, sir."

Himura nodded again and turned the page. "Now, I understand that you specifically requested to be transferred into Mizuki's Squad during your training, for 'availability reasons'. Is that right?"

Kouji kept his face blank at the lie he'd concocted to stay in the area. "Yes, sir."

"And your twin brother is currently in employ at Shibuya Shrine, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Kouji didn't like where this was going.

Himura didn't seem to notice or mind him at all as he continued to scan through the folder, which, obviously enough, was Kouji's personal record for his time in the Squad. "Kimura Kouichi, taking your mother's surname over your father's. He was, for the past year since his graduation, the former Yin Master's apprentice, was he not?"

"Yes, _sir_."

Himura looked up. "How do you think he will fare now, that his master and teacher has been murdered?"

Kouji narrowed his eyes sharply, angrily. What was Himura trying to suggest, bringing his brother up now? "Fine. Hakaishi has been teaching Kouichi ever since he was a kid. He knows everything by now. Kouichi is ready for anything."

"Do think he's ready to deal with all the responsibility on his own?"

Kouji gritted his teeth. "Of course."

"Good." Himura smirked, closing the file and letting his grin widen to Cheshire Cat limits. "Then you won't mind that I've given the order for your transfer."

Kouji's body shot to rigid tension. "_What_?"

"Your _transfer_, Minamoto-kun." Himura's eyes gleamed just a bit. "And your promotion, to boot. The cases in Hokkaido are getting out of hand, new demons spawning every week to double, triple their numbers. There's no way the teams we have out there can handle it all on their own, what they need is backup. To retaliate, we're forming a new squad of younger, faster, more talented members. And I think you could be just the man we need for their Commander."

Kouji was quiet. Promotion? Transfer? _Hokkaido?_ That was too far away, it would take too much energy to Aparate back and forth everyday. He'd have to move. All the way to Hokkaido. The _island_ of Hokkaido, hundreds of miles away. Hundreds of miles from his friends, his mother, Kouichi…

"I'll give you some time to think it over." Himura's voice broke through his thought again, as calm and collected as ever. "You're probably still preoccupied with this case, and that's understandable. You want your whole focus to be here and now. You just think about my offer for a while and, after this mission is over, you can give me your answer."

Kouji gripped his hand at his side and gritted his teeth. Think about it? How could he just…how could he…leave…?

He opened a small drawer, removing an ink pad and his personal stamp, signing the end of a waiting form with relative ease and smiled at the young man. "Just…think about it, Minamoto-kun. It would be wonderful for you career."

"Yes…Sir."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Hermione sighed and sank to the ground once more, both tired and bored. They had been asked by Mizuki to remain in the shrine's main halls until the Squad leader had returned, but right now it was getting tediously dull. She'd already explored as much as she could, asking questions about various religious or magical objects scattered around the wood-lined building, but now she'd exhausted her own curiosity and only had any real interest in getting out of here…maybe a nice bath, or something of the likes. She wanted to relax.

But, as she couldn't leave, that was out of the question, so she returned to her designated 'spot' next to the wall, just a few feet away from where Takuya, Tomoki, Harry and Ron were sharing a small mess of convenience-store snacks. Izumi sat beside the adjunct wall, talking pleasantly with Kouichi as Malfoy sat on the dark-haired boy's other side, apparently asleep.

On Hermione's other side was the woman who had brought the snacks with her when she had returned just a few moments before: Kenkyo.

The old woman was sitting calmly on a large, soft mat, her legs folded regally beneath her, working devotedly over a thin piece of wood. A soft, yet coarse, cloth was clutched in the other hand, running back and forth along the wood. It was charmed, of course, a cleaning and polishing cloth for wands - which of course, was the wood in her hand.

She was cleaning the bloodstains off. The dark red splotches were obvious against the wood's soft off-white color, and the process, even charmed, was slow and delicate.

Hermione watched the hand move back and forth along the smooth wood in a patient, graceful manner, and a thought popped into her head. She knew she was right, but naturally enough, she had to be sure. "Is that…?"

"Hakaishi-san's." Kenkyo finished the girl's question for her, a pleasant smile on her face as she nodded. "Yes, it is. I thought it should be cleaned before its passing on."

Hermione frowned a bit, not quite understanding. "But…if it's his, shouldn't you break it?"

Kenkyo looked surprised, but it soon faded into understanding. "Ah, yes. That is the Western custom, isn't it? The wand is broken so that it can never be used by anyone besides its intended owner, is that correct?"

"That's how I understand it." Hermione nodded. She'd only been witness to two wizarding funeral - the first was that of Cedric Diggory during the summer between her fourth and fifth years, but in the case his wand had been lost during Harry's fight with Voldemort, so the symbolic act of sending a wand along with its owner had no been possible. And, at Dumbledore's funeral, the wand had also been lost. The traditional practice was, in truth, only something she'd read in books, but assumed to be true in most circumstances.

"You must understand, though, that the Breaking of the Wand is a strictly Western custom inapplicable in Oriental traditions." Hermione raised an eyebrow. Kenkyo had never paused in her task, and was continuing to lecture quietly without looking up. "In our practice, it is the will of fate that the wand should survive its owner. So, when such a thing occurs, the wand is carried on to the next generation - it passes to its former owner's next of kin, their child or their closest relation."

"I see." Hermione nodded in understanding. "So the wand will go to Hakaishi's…son?"

"No. Hakaishi has no children." Kenkyo whispered softly. "Nor did he have family. He was an orphan, abandoned at this shrine as a very young child, who never knew of his birth family nor tried to discover anything about them. This shrine was his home, his life. He devoted himself entirely to his studies and his students."

"But then…" Hermione blinked, now decidedly confused. "Who does his wand go to?"

Kenkyo smiled softly again, more at the wand than at the girl. "Yes…That is a question, isn't it?"

Before Hermione could quite work out what the elder priestess meant, the door slid open again, ushering in a rather frazzled-looking Mizuki, who wore a scowl etched deep on her otherwise attractive face.

Tomoki looked up as she entered and noticed the expression right off. "Is something wrong, Mizuki-san?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." The Squad Leader was tense, anxious, as thought waiting for the next attack. "Everything's just peachy."

"Where is Kouji?" Kouichi asked gently from his place. Next to him, Malfoy opened one gleaming, pale eye to glance at the proceedings around him without care.

"I'm sure he'll be along eventually." Mizuki muttered, brushing her bangs back out of her eyes. "He just got a little preoccupied with brass, that's all."

And without another word, she crossed the room and exited through the back door, slamming the wooden screen behind her with a harsh snap. The gathered group stared after her rather wordlessly.

"What the hell was her problem?" Draco muttered with a light sniff.

Harry snapped a green-eyed glare to him. "Shut up, Malfoy."

"You shut it, Potter!" The blonde shot back angrily. "You aught to get a job with that Skeeter woman if you're so eager to stick your nose into other people's conversations!"

Harry was on his feet, and seconds later, Malfoy was up as well, despite Kouichi and Tomoki both trying to plead with them not to cause trouble. Izumi groaned, placing a hand to her forehead, and locked yes with an equally frustrated Hermione. This was bound to happen, they knew, it always did when you kept a bunch of men locked up together, even if they got along, which these two most definitely didn't. And if Ron decided to join in and stoke the fire, this could turn into their own personal World War III, right in front of them…

Takuya groaned. "Is this really necessary, you two?"

"Of course it is!" Ron answered, a sort of conniving little grin on his face. "It's about time Harry got a crack at Malfoy after what he did!"

"Shut your trap, Weasel!"

…Yup. World War III.

"You've got some mouth, thinking you can still call him that." Harry retorted, appearing quite suddenly between Malfoy and Ron. "When we all know you're just a sniveling little ferret."

Malfoy growled a bit and curled his hands into fists. "Figures you'd put yourself at the same level as that nutcase. Is that why you want to be an Auror? To follow in old Professor Loony Moony's footsteps?"

"I guess you wouldn't know." Harry scowled. "You'd never be brave enough to take on an Auror's job, would you? Too busy crawling on the ground like so

"And you think you're brave enough, right?" An evil, but uninspired, glint appeared deep in Malfoy's pale blue eyes. "So that's why you were cowering in the corner like a scared puppy when Severus showed up!"

"It's certainly better than _you_, Malfoy!" Harry snarled in a sudden burst of fury. "You couldn't even handle yourself in a real fight without your father and his fellow lapdogs there holding your hand!"

Malfoy froze, his teeth gritted and his blue eyes reflecting wrath. Harry let a nasty sort of smirk wiggle onto his lips. He had the upper hand! It was about time he had the chance to do this, to knock that nasty little git off his high horse, let him see how his family really was, put him in his place once and for all.

"Not that he'd help you much, even if he was around." He continued, a deliciously malicious creature deep inside him roaring in delight as the expression in Malfoy's eyes grew gradually more and more aghast. "It's not like your family's much known for bravery, are they? If they were, they wouldn't be cowering behind Voldemort and his flunkies, just because it was the only way to keep their skins intact."

"Sh-Shut up, Potter!"

The beast in Harry's chest roared in triumph again, pushing a bit more fuel into his fire. "Your father's a nasty enough piece of work, but when he's with that dung-nosed thing you call your mother, I suppose it's no surprise you turned out to be so pathetic and disgusting. I bet they're just so proud of how you turned out, a sniveling little ferret willing to jump at any little twitch from your oh-so-great Dark Lord…"

"Shut UP!"

_BAM!_

Harry toppled backwards and hit the ground hard, his hands moved instantly, one to cover the searing pain now spreading across his mouth and lower jaw, the other to pull out his wand. But just as his hands touched the wood, his eyes cleared enough that he could see it wasn't Malfoy who had punched him.

It was Kouichi.

The priest-in-training was standing firmly between Harry and Malfoy, his right hand curled into an angry fist, his knuckles still white and red after the impact. His dark bangs fell over his eyes, hiding them, but his jaw was set in an expression that was obviously anger.

"K…Kimura?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Ron exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Kouichi lifted his head just a bit, his eyes appearing from behind his bangs. The normally warm navy blue color had turned dark, icy and cold. It was, if Harry had seen anything like it before, a cold gaze of pure fury.

"Just keep your mouth shut, Potter." Kouichi whispered, his voice low and harsh, "You shouldn't talk about things you don't understand."

Harry rubbed his lip, checking for blood, and glanced up again to retaliate, but Kouichi didn't wait. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, his entire body tense and almost shaking with the need to control the anger bubbling up inside of him. Malfoy, who seemed as shocked as any of the others, hesitated a moment before following after him.

The rest of the group followed him with their eyes. "Where's he going?" Tomoki asked.

"After Kouichi, obviously." Izumi clicked her tongue in a disapproving manner. "Not smart."

"Yeah. Kouichi's _scary_ when he's mad." Takuya let out a low whistle and knelt down to check Harry's damage. "Yowza. That's going to hurt in the morning, buddy. Your lip's even split."

Harry rubbed the sore spot with a grimace, finding just a little blood this time, and scowled. Takuya grinned a cautious sort of grin. "Yeah, I know. Kouichi doesn't look like he could hit that hard, does he? Just goes to show why you never make one of the twins mad."

"Kimura gets mad?" Ron blurted, and the three Japanese students in the room gave him odd looks.

"Of course he does." Tomoki finally blinked and shrugged awkwardly. "He's human."

"You wouldn't guess it, though." Izumi sighed, shaking her head. "Because of his gentle disposition, he doesn't normally get too upset at other people. Kouji does that for him." Harry couldn't help smirking a bit. "But he does get mad, if you push him too much - though I've never seen him _hit_ anybody before."

"I have." Takuya spoke up. "One other."

Hermione turned her eyes to him. "Really? Who?"

"Me."

"You?"

Takuya nodded, grimacing a bit at the memory. "When I heard about the first time Kouichi met Kousei…Kouji's father…I kinda went out of line."

Tomoki raised an eyebrow. It seemed he hadn't heard this before, either. "What'd you do?"

"I called Kousei a bastard." Takuya shrugged, standing and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "And Kouichi nearly broke my nose."

Then the door slid open again.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Kimura…Oi, Kimura!"

Kouichi paused a moment in the hall, allowing Draco a chance to catch up with him. The blonde's tone was less frightened than it might have been otherwise. In fact, he sounded almost…impressed, but it was a cautious sort of awe that held the motive of discovering the mistake of another, so the same would not be repeated.

Kouichi's scowl deepened and he wondered bitterly if he'd just proven to the others how much of a Slytherin he could really be, but he forced those thoughts down. He wasn't mad at Draco, or Takuya or the others, and it would be wrong to take out his frustrations with Potter on them. He took a deep breath and let his face relax before he turned to his friend.

"Hai, Draco-kun?"

Draco paused and looked the priest over. Kimura's body was not tense, the way Minamoto's was when he was angry. Rather, it seemed to have given out halfway through and was hanging a bit limply past the loose robe. If he looked closely, Draco could see the remnants of strain and apprehension lining the very edge of Kimura's lithe muscles, but it seemed more tired than anything else.

The man just couldn't handle an emotion like anger. That was good to know.

"You didn't have to do that."

Kouichi glanced up the three inches difference between himself and Draco to match the blonde's gaze. His navy-blue eyes were shadowed once more, looking tired and fatigued. "Do what?"

"Step in." Draco tried to set his expression into his best poker face. "I can handle Potter. There was no reason for you to become involved, Kimura."

Kouichi was silent for a long while, not quite looking at anything, including Draco. A soft whisper fluttered out of his lips following a long, deep breath. "He didn't have a right to say that."

"Say…?"

"What he said about your family." Kouichi gripped his fists as his voice wavered just a bit. "Potter has never…_never_…had any idea of what a family is supposed to be like. The only thing he's ever had is his own fantasies, the imagination of perfection, the assumption that his parents could never do wrong…"

A light hiss slipped from the dark-haired boy's lips. Draco didn't have to see Kimura's eyes now to know that they were a borderline flood, the tears were rippling across the anger in his voice.

Draco understood. He'd always felt the same anger with Potter, acting so high-and-mighty, so justified because his parents were 'brave enough' to die 'for the cause of justice'. Because of their stupidity, Saint Potter could lift himself so high above the 'villainous' Malfoys whose family had sided with the Dark Lord, with the darkness and the evil, and for their own villainy, they were cursed with shame and defeat and servitude…

Because, after all, they weren't perfect. Nothing like the late, great James and Lily Potter…

"Someone like that…with nothing to compare, with no experience, no nothing…doesn't have the right to criticize anyone else's family." Kouichi hissed. "Not when all they can compare it with is their own selfish reasons and half-baked ideals."

The two pairs of blue eyes…one set icy and cold, the other dark navy…met for just a moment. In that small flash, everything was communicated mutually. Their anger, their shame, and most of all…their jealousy.

"Kimura…"

Kouichi turned away with one smooth motion and yanked the quiver of arrows over his shoulder. "I need to practice."

"…Sure." Draco shrugged and stepped back out of the way.

_**TBC…**_

Commander Himura is the top brass of the Squad in this area. Mizuki calls him Kimura-sensei because he's her superior. Kouji, if he was ever to address him by name, would probably call him 'Himura-sama'.

"…_made it to Ha-rank…"_ _- _The Exorcism Squad rank their officiating members within each Squad using the Iroha ranking system. Iroha is based on a poem used by Japanese school children to learn the kana (both Hiragana and Katakana) alphabet sounds. Iroha used each of the Kana only once and made sense when run together. An English equivalent is the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

I only know the first seven ranks thanks to the _Tsubasa Chronicle_ manga: I, Ro, Ha, Ni, Ho, He, To. Kouji started out as a trainee, then a To-ranked member of the squad. Now, he's a Ha-Rank, while Mizuki-sempai is the I-rank, the commander, of their twenty-man Squad.

The idea of breaking a wizard's wand once he dies isn't mine. I actually got it from a website that referenced a song sung by Hagrid and Slughorn in the sixth book. You can look it up, if you want, I just used the idea.

I can't write arguments. I also can't argue. So sorry about that bit sucking so much. I just wanted to set it up.


	13. Sneaking Out Surprise

I had about half this chapter finished before I left for Mission, so I figured I might as well get it done before I moved on to other chapters. Next up, Chapter 10 of the Rise of Dusk, and a new world in KoEH, so please be patient as I balance everything on my to-write list! (Low bow) Hope you enjoy!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 12: Sneaking Out Surprise**

Thwipt-_pang_. Thwipt-_pang_.

Kouji's ears picked up on the steady rhythm as soon as he arrived on the shrine grounds. His eyes turned slightly to trace the noise to the archery range, where a familiar bob of blue-black hair was poised at the firing end, bow taunt and ready in his hands. One after another, arrows were knotted and fired at the multiple targets positioned at the other end of the path, each of which held several other shafts in the outer rings.

Thwipt-_pang_. Thwipt-_pang_.

Kouichi's aim was off, Kouji realized as he drew a bit closer, and the pace was far too rapid for his normal meditative state. What's more, the bow was gripped too tightly, and the arrows flew with too much intensity, and the gentle prodding of his brother's emotions against the edge of Kouji's mind was far too insistent and anxious for this to be normal practice.

Thwipt-_pang_. Thwipt-_pang_.

The copulation of which could mean only one thing: Kouichi was in a bad mood and using archery with un-charmed arrows to work out his own frustrations. Joy. That made two of them.

"What the hell happened?" Kouji asked, his question directed without looking at the blonde who now leaned against the outside of the shrine.

Malfoy scowled at him and shrugged, just enough to avoid the pain of his back. "Potter did it."

"Did what?"

"Said something." Malfoy's scowl deepened. "About family - my family. Something that made Kimura loose his temper."

Kouji's eyes narrowed sharply. "And what happened?"

"He's your brother." Malfoy snapped, turning back to the irritated priest. "You figure it out."

Kouji frowned, but consentrated a moment on the surging emotions his brother was pushing against their connection. He prodded it gently and got a mild reaction, a sort of shock that registered across his neural connections with a slight spasm of the mind. Along with the shock was a small sort of clip, a flash of memory - a fist colliding painfully with Potter's face, knocking him to the floor in a burst of rage.

Kouji opened his eyes and sighed. "Moron."

"No kidding." Draco smirked lightly.

The Squad member scowled at him and moved to the open door of the shrine, pausing just a moment in the open passageway. "Do me a favor, Malfoy: Make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

"What do you think I'm doing out here? Birdwatching?"

Kouji muttered a light 'hn' and snapped the door closed being him.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

_Thump_.

"Ow."

Harry rubbed his head, adding a rather large bump to his growing list of minor injuries. He scowled up at Kouji, who, having entered the room moments before, was still standing over him with the wooded bokuto in ready position right above Harry's head. "What was that for?"

"The last thing I need right now is my brother in a bad mood." Kouji's navy eyes narrowed at the foreigner tersely. "So try thinking a little before you open your trap again, Potter."

With that, the Squad member returned his practice blade to its place and marched across the room. He slid down next to the wall and crossed his legs, his arms doing the same over his chest, a scowl set firmly on his lips.

The group stared at him in considerable surprise. "Okay…"

"And he thinks Kimura's in a bad mood?" Ron asked incredulously.

Izumi let a small frown slid over her face. She stood quietly and crossed to the wall, sitting down beside her old friend. "Kouji, is something bothering you?"

"It's nothing."

"Translation: Something big is going down and I don't want to talk about it." Takuya quipped brightly.

Kouji's scowl deepened.

Tomoki blinked and turned his head a bit owlishly. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, Kouji."

"I don't."

"Okay, fine." Takuya sighed, rolling his eyes. "Be that way. It'll come out eventually."

Kouji's glare turned up at his best friend, who just smirked again. "It always does, you know. I'd love to point out all the times that's happened, but I have to get out of here. If I'm late to another practice, Ketaru's gonna…"

"You can't."

Eyes snapped around to Kouji again, the Squad member not even looking up. "What did you say?"

"You can't leave. No one can." Kouji explained calmly, though his voice held undertones of utter annoyance and rage. "The entire shrine is under quarantine until tomorrow afternoon. Nobody can go in or out, including the Squad."

"Say…what?" Izumi exclaimed, her voice raising into a shrill little shriek.

Kouji lifted his gaze up at her in the cold, icy manner they were all familiar with by now. "We're stuck here." He spelled out slowly, sounding out every syllable so nothing his said could be construed as something else. "So you might as well get comfortable."

Then he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, leaving the gathered group to their own shocked reactions.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Draco lay awake, staring up at the ceiling. Normally, in such frustration, he would have been tossing and turning with righteous indignation, but as any sort of pressure or movement against his back sent spasms up and down his entire body, that didn't seem like a wise thing to do at all.

Something was keeping him awake. He was in a small room by himself, indeed, it was almost like a closet, so the problem wasn't anything he could blame on lousy roommates, or even Weasley's obnoxious snoring three door over. It was something in his head, something rolling around over and over again, bothering him every time he tried to close his eyes and drift away into the oblivion of sleep.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but something - _something_ - was bothering him.

Draco closed his eyes a moment and tried to think, working it out in his mind what could be haunting him so. His mind drifted slowly back in time to only a few months before, when he had come to Japan for the first time, looking for aid he wasn't sure he deserved…

Severus had suddenly come to him in the middle of the night, after days and weeks of mind-numbing torture, setting him free without a word. All the former Potions Master had said was, "Get away," but from what? From the Death Eaters? From the Dark Lord? From England?

Draco had assumed it was some sort of test, that the Dark Lord and his followers wanted to know what one of their youngest and most unstable members would do out in the real world. The Dark Lord was testing him, wasn't he, judging his worth to see how behaved, and if he didn't pass he'd be recaptured, most likely killed, along with his entire family…

But something about it wasn't quite connecting. Why would the Dark Lord set him free before he could be absolutely certain of Draco's loyalties? Why would Voldemort, the greatest Legilimens to have ever been born to the wizarding world, need to test his loyalty anyway?

And why would those demons have been sent in such massive numbers to attack this tiny shrine in the middle of Tokyo unless the Dark Lord had known…had known that…

Draco sat up, not even noticing the harsh pain now, his pale eyes wide and unseeing in the dark with the shock of a sudden realization.

"God _damn_ that bastard." He hissed, and started getting dressed.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Ron normally slept like a log. Actually, he was almost famous for it in the Gryffindor common room, rarely waking at all except for the occasional garbled dreams about tap dancing spiders and the few times a late-night practice spell had gone awry.

But tonight, as he attempted sleep in a Japanese-style sleeping pallet ('futon' the translation charm provided, not-so-helpfully) he found himself lying awake. Being quarantined in this shrine, still half-gutted from the demon attack, was really getting to him. His nerves, for one thing, we completely shot, and sleeping just a few rooms over from Draco (dumb arse) Malfoy was more than he wanted to take right now…

A slight rattling noise caught his attention, and the redhead sat up. From down the hall, he could hear a light squeaking noise - that of a sliding wood door being pushed closed, with some effort made to keep it quiet. It was followed by a light rustling - footsteps on the reed mat - coming slowly closer and closer to his room.

Ron lifted himself out of the futon and crawled quietly to the door. For a moment, he contemplated waking Harry, or Takuya, but decided he was being jumpy. After all, if it was just one of the girls getting up for a late-night drink, he'd hate to imagine what they'd think of him…

He froze a moment as a shadow appeared on the rice-paper screen. For a split second, the shape - it was almost certainly human - paused outside of his room as though his sensing his presence, but then moved on as though nothing had happened. Ron held his breath and gripped the edge of the door, sliding it open as quietly as he could and poking his head out into the hallway.

Draco Malfoy, yanking an oriental-style black robe ('yukata' said the charm) over his normal dress clothes, was sneaking down the hall with shoes in hand. He paused a moment at the first corner, looking both ways, then slipped down to the right, away from the center of the shrine.

Ron muffled a low hiss and followed after, straightening a bit as he reached the corner. He peaked around the edge of the wall as quietly as he could, just in time to see Malfoy pause long enough to put on his shoes. They weren't the slippers they had been told to wear indoors, no, they were normal shoes for going outside.

Nobody was supposed to be leaving, they had all been forced to remain. Which meant that the miserable little ferret was sneaking out…

Ron jerked out of his thoughts as a hand fell over his mouth, his head snapping back to get a good look at his attacker, but just as he got a glimpse he was silenced by a familiar, soft, "Shhhh."

"Kimura!" The redhead wiggled his way free from the grip, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper. "Christ, you scared the bejeezus outta me! What're you…?"

"Shush." Kouichi repeated, pressing one finger to his lips. He slipped past Ron and looked out into the hall, following a certain blonde with his eyes in a quite, cautious manner.

It took a moment for Ron to remember what he had been doing. "Oh, right. Malfoy." He slide quietly up next to Kimura, peaking out as well. "I'll bet he's up to something. Come on, we better follow him."

As Malfoy disappeared around the corner, the Weasley followed after with Kimura quietly on his heels. Like a white mouse, Malfoy wormed his way through the twisting halls of the shrine until he reached the back door, which was open so that any stray late-summer breeze could permeate the inside of the otherwise stuffy, hot shrine. A thick cord of twine, covered sparsely by various wards, was strung across this opening, as with the rest of the circumference, forming the softly-glowing barrier that kept the shrine's occupants inside.

As the two spies watched silently, Malfoy drew his own dragon-heartstring wand and pressed the tip to the barrier, whispering a soft spell under his breath. For an instant, the gentle blue glow of the barrier disappeared, and the blonde slide past before it could reactivate again.

"Slimy little worm." Ron hissed under his breath, drawing his own wand and taking careful aim. "I knew he was up to something."

Behind him, Kouichi said nothing, but it sounded as though he was ruffling along the floor. Ron shrugged. "Sorry, buddy. I know you think he's your friend and everything, but you can't trust a creep like that. But he's not getting away. I'll stop him, just watch. _Petrificus To-_"

_BAM_.

His spell unfinished, Ron's mouth remained open slightly as his body registered the hard blow he'd received to the back of the head. As he fell, he turned to look behind him, his eyes widening slightly in disbelief at his attacker.

"Kimura…Why?"

The redhead crumpled to the ground and lay still, his head bleeding slightly. Kouichi sighed, setting down the wooden board, and took Ron's wand out of his hand just long enough to mend the slight wound.

"Sorry." He muttered, slipping the wand back into its owner's sleeve before he stood. Then the priest-in-training turned on his heels and darted out after his friend.

_**TBC…**_


	14. Things Get Complicated

_July 17th, 2006 - _Okay, so two weeks after I first upload this chapter, I finally have the time to go back and read it on the site itself. And what do I find? ONCE AGAIN, the programming of the website SCREWED UP and only loaded part of the chapter. Because of where it cut off this time, no one noticed, but a good two pages of the story just vanished! Grrr…

So, here is the COMPLETE version of this chapter, for your scrutiny. And, for a future note, in case this happens again and I don't catch it, I always end my chapters with the letters '**_TBC…_**' which stands for 'To Be Continued…', unless it's the final chapter, which always ends in some version of '**_The End_**'. If neither of these show up at the end of the chapter, PLEASE, tell me! I HATE it when this happens!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 13: Things Get Complicated**

Kouji was, quite suddenly, awake.

This was not a new thing, mind you. Years and years of martial arts training harbored since early childhood had long since made the naturally cautious boy extremely alert and observant, perhaps even supernaturally so, and as such he was prone to wake several times during the night, sometimes even engaging in a wolf-like prowl around his current location to make sure that his 'pack' (friends, family, etc.) were properly secured before returning to sleep.

What was different about this sudden awakening was that it had less to do with training and more to do the hilt of a sword being jabbed into his side rather painfully.

"Minamoto! On your feet, Minamoto, come on!"

At his sempai's voice, Kouji was off the floor and at semi-ready attention in the time most people would have taken to yawn. Mizuki looked pissed, in a way that usually meant something really bad or really, really aggravating had recently happened. "Y-Yes, Sempai?"

"About time, Minamoto!" Mizuki growled softly, grabbing him by the jacket and dragging him out of the room that Kouji just realized hadn't been empty when he'd fallen asleep and into the main building. "We need everyone up and about, _now_. We've had a security breach!"

Any minor thoughts Kouji might have been harboring about sleep were gone faster than Apparating. 'Security breach'. But that meant…

"Something got in?" He asked in a soft whisper.

"No." Mizuki hissed. "Some_one_ got out."

"Say _what_?"

Mizuki snapped open the sliding door to the main part of the shrine, revealing a gathered bunch of sleepy and confused teens (Tomoki, Izumi, Takuya, Harry and Hermione), a half-asleep old priestess (Kenkyo-sensei) and several anxious-looking Squad members (whom Kouji didn't know off the top of his head - most likely from another unit).

"Report." Mizuki snapped at the nearest guard, who jumped a foot before snapping to attention.

"W-We've investigated everyone, ma'am, and so far we can tell that there are two people missing from the group."

"Which two?" Mizuki growled, tapping her bokuto at the parchment in the man's hands. "Come on, chop-chop, you've got the list right there! Who're the two missing?"

Kouji winced. He knew where this was going, part of him really, honestly knew, but it was solidified now that the guard managed to stutter out. "K-Kimura-san and Ma-Marufoi-san…"

"It's pronounced 'Malfoy'" Kouji winced again at Mizuki's harsh tone, and at the glare she was giving him. "And any idea _where_ they could have gone?"

"N-No ma'am…"

"Then _figure it out_!" Mizuki's voice rose into an angry shout, which echoed through the small wooden room and made all the Squad members, including Kouji for the third time, wince visibly. The unfortunate sap she was yelling at stuttered a bit before he took off into a run.

Takuya winced as well. "Poor guys…"

"Mizuki-san is really stressed out." Tomoki observed.

"No kidding." Izumi groaned, putting a hand to her head. "Oh…as if this wasn't already a long night. What on Earth are those two thinking? Where could they have gone at a time like this?"

Harry frowned. They…or rather, Malfoy…had been acting awfully suspicious right before they'd all been sent to bed. And Kimura had acted even stranger, giving Harry a rather frigid cold shoulder and hardly speaking to either Ron or Hermione all night…though, Harry had to admit, that could have had something to do with their earlier 'altercation'…

And speaking of Ron…

Mizuki took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax, then snapped into her orders. "All right, then. Squad, spread out in teams, make sure to keep contact. Any and all able civilian volunteers are also welcome. We're looking for a blonde, gaijin, pale skin and blue eyes; most likely being tailed or accompanied by a dark-haired priest with no wand…"

"Hold on a sec!" Harry clamored to his feet with Hermione just seconds behind him. "Ron's not here! Where is _he_?"

Mizuki glanced at them and raised an eyebrow. "'Lon'…"

"No, 'Ron'!" Harry snapped back, obviously irritable, though whether that was from lack of sleep or his constant mental state was unsure. "Ron Weasley! The redhead!"

"Ah, yes…Him." Mizuki glanced around rather coldly, frowning. "He's not here, is he? Katamura, you said there were only two missing!"

"There are only two missing, ma'am." Katamura gulped slightly, motioning towards the outside door. "We found the other boy in the courtyard…unconscious. He's not exactly hurt, and there's no spell damage. It looks like he got bashed over the head…"

Before the diagnosis could be finished, Harry and Hermione had shoved past them to scramble out the door, Takuya, Izumi and Tomoki on their heels. Kouji hesitated a moment, glancing at Mizuki out of the corner of his eye, then followed them out.

Ron was sprawled on his back, where he had been turned over from his former position of flat on his face. There was a rather large lump in the back of his head, sticking out through a sparse patch of red hair, but there was very little blood and the bump was slowly disappearing thanks to the charmed icepack that he rested on. There was a medical officer sitting beside him, but he looked more bored than anything else.

That was not much sympathy to either Harry or Hermione, both of whom nearly bawled the Healer over to get to their friend's side. "Ron!"

"Can you hear me?" Hermione gave the redhead a light shake by the shoulders, getting gradually harder and more desperate as she went on. "Ron, say something! Wake up!"

"It's all right." The Healer they had knocked over groaned, thanking Tomoki quietly for helping him up. "The lump's just unconscious, that's all. No real damage at all. I was just about to wake him up."

"I'll do it. Move." Kouji muttered, pulling his wand from the pocket of his jacket and giving Harry a light shove so he could crouch next to the unconscious redhead. He tapped the tip of the wand against the middle of Ron's forehead, sending a cool blue light spreading across the skin.

With a baffled expression, Ron's eyes fluttered open. "Whu…"

"Welcome back to consciousness." Kouji muttered, stashing his wand. "Took you long enough."

"Kimura…!"

Ron lunged up suddenly, still half-dazed, and struck out at Kouji with a punch, who caught it a bit too easily. His dark blue eyes glared harshly as he gripped the other's fist in his hand. "Your punch sucks, Weasley."

Ron blinked once, then did it again. "…Minamoto?"

Kouji nearly threw the boy's fist back at him and straightened back to his feet with an angry sort of huff. Harry took this opportunity to slide back into his place and put a hand on Ron's shoulder. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing…" Ron groaned, holding his head. "Except a headache…How long have I been out?"

"About an hour." Spoke up the Healer, who brushed himself off and muttered some kind of excuse before he headed back into the main shrine.

Izumi frowned, crossing her arms over her chest and crouching down to glare at Ron with annoyed blue-green eyes. "What was that all about, then?"

"What was what?"

"You thought Kouji was Kouichi." Izumi spelled out slowly. "You tried to hit him. Why?"

Ron groaned and rubbed the back of his head, where the lump was starting to fade away. "…He hit me."

"We know." Harry sighed, patting his friend's shoulder. "Malfoy knocked you over the head. Don't worry about that, we'll get him back for…"

"Not Malfoy. Kimura."

The group stopped and stared at Ron as though he'd just grown a third arm. Or a second head. Tomoki swallowed slightly, his eyes wide. "Say…Say what?"

"Kimura's the one who hit me." Ron muttered bitterly. "Not Malfoy. Kimura."

"No way." Takuya breathed, his brown eyes widening sharply as he glanced at Kouji.

"Kouichi wouldn't do something like that." Izumi protested, a deep frown on her face.

"He hit Harry." Hermione pointed out.

"Harry was acting like an ass." Takuya waved his hand dismissively and ignored the offended look on the 'Boy-Who-Lived's face. "Kouichi's not the type to carry over a grudge or take it out on somebody else, though. And he'd never actually hurt someone… not like this. Something's wrong."

Kouji let a slight growl escape his throat, his hand coiling around the hilt of his weapon, especially as Hermione said, "You don't think that Kimura could actually be _working_ with Malfoy, do you? I mean…could they be…"

"Squad!" Mizuki's voice rang through the whole of the shrine, magically amplified and cutting their conversation harshly short. "Move out, _NOW_!"

Kouji gritted his teeth, snatched out his sword and headed for the streets. His mind was mostly focused now, converted instantly into battle mode and only barely noticing the others closing in on his heels, but it was his heart now that was whispering worriedly. "_Nii-san, what have you gotten yourself into now…?"_

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Because of his upbringing and his rather pampered life for a teenage boy, Draco Malfoy was not used to running, but that didn't mean he couldn't do it particularly well.

His feet pounded against the pavement of the Tokyo street with a steady rhythm, slipping from shadow to shadow, avoiding the streetlights, avoiding being seen. He slinked, with all the power and grace of a Slytherin snake, he slinked, being as silent as possible, as hidden, as everything that could mean secret as he could think of…

But that didn't seem to change the fact that he was being followed. Rather relentlessly.

The blonde paused a moment to catch his breath, leaning against the edge of the bridge he was just a few steps from crossing. He took a few deep breaths and glanced behind him, panting at the figure that hovered a few steps behind him.

"Why…" He hissed softly, his voice stretching to the dark-haired boy. "Kimura, why the hell are you following me?"

Kouichi had slowed to the same pace as his friend, remaining exactly three and a half feet behind him. His feet wore tennis shoes, which was a bit strange looking beneath the refined priest's robe. He was in better shape than his friend, and he was not as desperate or scared either. He took a deep breath and pulled one hand up to his chest. "You left so quickly. I was worried about you, Draco-kun."

"Well, quit worrying!" Draco snarled back, pushing away from the bridge support and stumbling a few feet away, his hands grip tightly to his sides. "Quit worrying about _me_, Kimura! Worry about your shrine, your mother…for god's sake, worry about your frickin' self for once! Just _quit worrying about me_!"

He stopped, taking deep breaths to try and calm his heart. Kouichi waited, very patiently, until his friend's gasping had slowed to normal. Then he stepped forward, closing the gap just a bit more. "When you insist like that, Draco-kun, it just makes me worry more."

Draco turned to him with a slightly aggravated expression, but he was too tired to say anything more. The priest was not smiling, not accusing, not really anything at all, his face carefully blank of all emotion. Draco had to admit - he had a hell of a poker face.

"Why did you leave the shrine, Draco-kun?" Kouichi asked softly, taking another slow step forward. "You know, the Squad will be after us as soon as they figure out we're gone. We could get into a lot of trouble for breaking quarantine."

"So why the hell did you follow me?" Draco snapped back.

"Why did you leave?" Kouichi asked again, closing the gap. "Tell me, please, why? What happened?"

Draco growled softly and stormed onto the bridge, turning away from his priest-friend angrily. "It's nothing."

"You're still hurt." Kouichi said softly, following after him at the same pace. "And why aren't you Apparating, Draco-kun?"

The Malfoy let out another low hiss. He was not Apparating because he hurt too much too, he couldn't concentrate straight, and he couldn't risk getting Splinched, he needed to get out of here _now_, out of the city, out of the country, as far as he could away from Kimura…

"Please, Draco-kun." Kouichi whispered, closing the gap even more. "Tell me what's wrong."

Draco took a deep breath, ready to snap back at him, but it came out as more of a hesitant sigh. "I…I can't. I can't tell you."

Kouichi's eyes softened to a worried expression, and his mouth opened a bit to say something, but before anything could come out a blood-curdling shriek rang through the night sky. Both priest and fugitive felt a terrible fork of shock and pain run up their spines.

"Wh-What the hell?" Draco covered his ears.

"Run."

"Say what?"

Kouichi suddenly broke the barrier of distance he had established between them to dart forward and grab Draco's arm by the wrist, dragging him forward onto the bridge. The dark-haired priest's eyes were wide in something that was less than fear but not a whole lot less. His formerly calm expression was gone, twisted into an expression of panic as he glanced about them through the dark wildly.

Draco, startled, yanked at the hand. "What the hell?"

"They're after us." Kouichi panted, stopping just a moment but trying to pull his friend along. "We're out, on the street, in the dark. We've got to get out of here."

"Kimura, what has gotten into you?" Draco demanded, planting his feet firmly and refusing to budge another inch.

Kouichi spun around, his blue eyes wide, his breathing slow and uneven. "Demons don't normally attack in the daylight, Draco-kun. They come at night because they're stronger at night. If they _are_ working for Dark Lord, they will find us and out here, at this time, they can and will tear us both apart…"

"Well, aren't you the smart one?"

Kouichi and Draco froze where they stood, their bodies going rigid. Blocking their path confidently was the blood-red fox demon from the shrine's first attack, his silver fangs glinting as the moonlight danced off his cocky smirk. To his left and right were several tanuki, three cats and a kappa, which had been the source of the earlier blood-curdling shriek.

Instinctively, Draco took a slow step back, but another chorus of evil-sounding laughter convinced him that this was a very bad idea. The other part of the shrine-attacking band, minus the brown fox and the creatures who had been killed in the Squad's intervention, were forming another wall of their own to block off the other end of the bridge. Though the resulting mass was no where near as great or threatening as that which had attacked the shrine, there was still at least ten too many for two recently-graduated wizards to handle on their own.

"This is certainly fortunate." The fox's smirk widened as he took a step forward towards the two figures trapped in the center of the bridge. "Here we were worrying ourselves over how to get in to that nasty little building, and just the quarry we were looking for comes right out to meet us."

Draco growled lightly and faced the front coming from behind, reaching into his pocket carefully. He backed up against the other boy, so none of the creatures could sneak up on them, and hissed, "Get your wand, Kimura."

"I don't have one."

Draco's head snapped around so quickly it nearly flew off his neck. "Say what?"

"I don't have my wand." Kouichi repeated slowly, his eyes and voice shaking slightly as he forced his fear into the back of his mind. "It…It was broken in that last attack. I haven't been able to get a new one at all."

Draco couldn't help it. He gulped. Rather unbecomingly. "We're so bloody screwed."

"Unfortunately so."

The fox started to laugh, accompanied by the cackles of the cats, which the tanuki echoed a moment later. The lone kappa blinked in confusion and made a bit of a hissing noise, the water in his head splashing in his confusion.

"Oh, this is just rich." Laughed the fox, rubbing a bit of a laughing tear from his eye. "And here the Master was expecting a huge fight like the last time. Without your wand, it will hardly even be a challenge to kill you both."

"Master…?" Kouichi hissed softly.

Malfoy growled softly. "So you're supposed to kill us now? What happened to the first order?"

"Withdrawn." The fox's smirk widened even more as he advanced another step, prompting the boys to back against each other just a bit more, both bodies tensing harshly. "Seems the Master finds you both too troublesome to let live. Whatever you had to offer isn't worth much anymore, and you're left as nothing but fresh meat."

Kouichi's eyes narrowed, his teeth clinching together. "Offer…?"

"I knew it." Malfoy growled softly. "That bastard."

"Draco-kun, what is going on?"

The fox brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes, pausing just a moment to watch Draco's expression of aggravation at Kouichi's insistent question before he lifted a hand to motion easily to the demons gathered around him. "Get them."

And they did.

Draco reacted at the peak of his instincts, which were understandably weak, but good enough to grab Kouichi by the shoulders and throw them both bodily to the side before the animal-spirits descended where they had been standing. Draco rolled to one side and blasted the nearest cat with the first nonverbal spell he could think of, sending the ferocious feline flying and giving him enough time to climb to his feet.

This was a hopeless fight, his mind knew even as the spells were fired, but he couldn't do anything about it. For once in his life, the idea of begging for his life was prominent, but he wouldn't do it. This wasn't a place where groveling would do anything, promising his help would accomplish even less than that, and if he was going to die anyway he might as well keep his pride and do it on his feet.

After all, he was a bloody _Malfoy_…

A tanuki was suddenly on him, shrieking and scratching. Draco managed to blast it away, but not before being knocked backwards and tumbling over the guardrail of the bridge and down to the rushing, cold waters of the raging river below…

"Draco-kun!"

Kouichi lunged over the edge and grabbed Malfoy's hand at the last possible instant. His body lurched with the sudden addition of another body's weight, nearly sending the priest into the water as well, but he managed to grab the railing at the last moment and keep them both out of the river's coursing waves, Kouichi bent in half over the railing and Draco's feet dangling two feet from the water's surface.

The blonde nearly bit his tongue to muffle a cry of pain as one of his deeper wounds burst open for what seemed like the millionth time, fresh blood dripping through the folds of his robe. He forced a deep breath and looked up at Kouichi, who had a desperate grip both on his wrist and on the railing he clung over.

"Just…Just hold on, Draco-kun." Grunted the priest, slipping a few inches. "I'll get you up…"

"Moron!" Draco shouted back up, twisting his arm. "Just let me fall! You're in the middle of a fight, you're going to get…"

"You're my friend, Draco-kun." Kouichi's voice was soft, his blue eyes honest and gentle. "Friends…Friends don't abandon each other. I won't let you fall."

For a short moment that seemed to last for a hesitant eternity, Draco Malfoy stared up at his companion…no, his _friend_…in a considerable amount of shock and awe. But then a shadow, a dark and threatening shadow topped with pointed animal ears, loomed up behind him with claws that blocked out the moon. "Kimura, behind you!"

Kouichi twisted slightly, but by then it was too late. The claws came down.

An anguished cry echoed through the dark night streets of Tokyo, accompanied by the sounds of tearing flesh and cloth, and quickly followed by a splash as something heavy hit the water hard.

_**TBC…**_

"Marufoi-san…" - a form of 'Malfoy' in Katakana.

Gaijin - Foreigner.

"'Lon'?" - Ron, also in Katakana, One should remember that the 'L' sound doesn't exist in Japanese, but their closest resemblance is the 'R' sounds. Katakana is Japanese script meant to spell out the pronunciation of foreign words, such as 'computer' (komputaa) and 'hamburger' (hambagaa). On a random note, my real first name translates to 'Adarei' in Katakana. If anyone can guess that (which you can't, trust me) you'll get a cyber-cookie)

I don't know if there's one through Shibuya, but I do know that there are a decent number of small rivers moving through Tokyo towards the bay area, so just work with me there.


	15. Sometimes Stories Get Mixed Up

Everyone, please make sure you've been able to read the ENTIRE Chapter 13, since, for reasons outside my control, two pages of it were cut out of its initial posting. By the time this chapter is posted, I hope to FINALLY be able to correct that error (grumble grumble…stupid Document Manager, always screwing up in one way or another…) and have the entire chapter up. It still leaves off on a cliff hanger, but it doesn't cut off as suddenly as the screw-up makes it seem.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 14: Sometimes Stories Get Mixed Up…**

"Harry…"

"I'm serious, Hermione, I really think he could have done it."

"I _know_ you do." Hermione snapped, a bit aggravated. "But _now_ is not the time to be saying things like that! You're just going to make it worse!"

Harry shut up, but he wasn't particularly happy about it. In his mind, he'd already figured out in his own mind what had happened, and Ron had already agreed with him: Malfoy had lead the demons, who were under Voldemort's command, to the shrine, and then taken advantage of Kouichi's trusting nature to cast the Imperious Curse on him, which is why the priest had acted the way he did with Ron. And now, if he knew anything about Malfoy, Voldemort and Death Eaters, he was going to take the 'hostage' straight to the Dark Lord himself, who was probably planning on breaking into the Digital World again…

But, in retrospect, maybe he shouldn't be mentioning this when, after two hours of futile searching, Kouji looked ready to rip something apart with his bare hands. Which, at the moment, he looked more than ready to oblige with.

And through all of this there was one annoying little voice poking into the back of his brain like a needle, reminding him over and over that he was _supposed_ to be looking for the Horcux there had been rumors of…

He was brought out of his thoughts by a thunder-like crash as one of the Squad members Apparated a few feet from him. "Mizuki-sempai, ma'am!"

"What is it?" Mizuki snapped, twisting around. She seemed hell-bent to keep an eye on the 'gaijins' and had insisted on traveling with them, even now that they had regrouped just outside of the shrine. "Did you find the priest and the gaijin?"

Kouji jerked to attention, as did Takuya and Izumi (Tomoki, unable to take anymore, had fallen asleep not too long ago and was currently coiled in the corner of the room).

However, the Squad member just shook his head. "I'm afraid not. No sign of them yet, ma'am."

Kouji slumped and put his head against his knees in aggravation. Izumi reached over and rubbed his back warmly, trying to soothe him.

If anything, Mizuki seemed even angrier, ripping her sunglasses away from her eyes. "Then _what is it_?"

"W-We've got some idea of what m-magical objects that might have influenced the demon's unusual behavior in the Shibuya Shrine attack." Stuttered the lesser rank, hurriedly flipping open a folder full of paper. "As you requested, ma'am, we've taken an inventory of any and all magical devices reported stolen in the past two weeks. As I've read so far, the list includes a dangerous orb known to simulate the effects of the Dementor's Kiss, a staff infused with a magical core to channel magical energies like a wand, a book of alchemic secrets from the west, a raven-feather quill that is noted to belong to have belonged to western wizard Rowena Ravenclaw, a card printed with the image of a white feather infused with abilities involving magical artwork, a…"

"Wait a second!" Harry interrupted suddenly. "Go back! What was that last one?"

The subordinate stuttered a bit before replying. "A…A card with connections to magical artwork?"

"No, before that!" Harry moved several steps forward and tried to get a good look at the parchment he was reading from. "What was that about Ravenclaw's quill? Where'd you find that?"

Mizuki-san sniffed and turned away. "I don't have time for this."

Izumi looked a bit angry, glaring up at the British teen from her seat and keeping one hand on Kouji's shoulder kindly. "Potter, this isn't the time for something like that! Save the collecting for later!"

"This is important." Harry muttered, still trying to get all the information he could out of a very baffled-looking Squad member.

"Yeah, big-time important!" Ron joined in, shaking off what sleep he had been getting and the water Hermione had woken him from her wand. "You wouldn't get it. This is _major_."

"Major how?" Takuya snapped back, taking the snide way Ron had approached his girlfriend as a personal affront. "In case you're forgetting, _Weasley_, our friend is missing, and right now we need to be concentrating on getting _him_ back, not worry about some stupid pen!"

"It's not just a pen!" Harry shot back, loosing his temper as the Squad member disappeared. "That's the reason we came here in the first place!"

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, her voice rising into a shrill shriek. She grabbed both boys by opposite shoulders and tried to drag them away from the heated four-way glare-off that had the potential to turn into a really scary five-way if Kouji ever got up the energy to left his head. "If you two aren't careful, we're not going to have any friends _left _in Japan!"

"Commander!"

_Crash_. Another Squad member Apparated in, this one out of breath and mildly frantic. Mizuki growled again. "If it's another list of missing contraband…"

"No ma'am. We've found a lead on the priest!"

Kouji's head shot up fast enough that a startled Izumi barely had time to snap her hand back. "What is it?"

"Which way is he headed?" Mizuki demanded. "And the gaijin, is he with him?"

"W-Well ma'am…" The man stuttered a bit, though he seemed to be more afraid of Kouji's eager expression than Mizuki's harsh glare. "I-I'm afraid we can't discover that…A-And I'm not exactly sure it matters now."

"And why not?" Mizuki snarled.

"W-Well, this washed up on the western bank in Minato-ku…"

He held up a piece of white cloth and spread it out to reveal something like a large linen shirt-the top half of a priest's first layer of robes. There were three foot-long gashes running across the back of the garment, violent inch-wide claw marks soaked in a deep red. Blood.

The color drained out of Kouji's face so quickly that Harry thought he was going to faint. He leaned against the wall for support just a moment before stumbling forward. The destroyed garment would have fit him exactly.

"No…"

Hermione took in a light intake of breath that sounded suspiciously like a barely held-in sob, her hand rising to cover her mouth as the other reached to grab Ron's arm for support. Said redhead was now totally and completely silent, and his hand twisted around to grab onto Hermione's, trying to be as comforting as possible. Izumi was in a similar position, leaning against Takuya's shoulder with both hands cupped over her mouth, the light gasps that followed sobs echoing out. Takuya put his arm around her, not wanting to believe it, staring at the cloth like it would disappear if he stared at it long enough.

Harry stopped thinking about the quill. He stared at Kouji.

Kouji was shaking, his normally steady and calm hands trembling visibly in the unmoving air of the shrine, air so dry that one wanted to say it was dead, but no one could bring themselves to say that word, even in their mind. Kouji stepped forward and touched the cloth that belonged to his brother…had belonged to his brother.

"No…No…"

Mizuki watched him a moment, then set her jaw and turned to the Squad members reporting in. "Keep looking for any side of the gaijin. We can't rule anything out about him yet. The demons could have torn him apart, too - or he might have made some sort of deal with them. Or, for all we know, this whole thing could be a set-up for murder. Don't rule anything out."

"Yes ma'am." Most of the Squad nodded and bowed, but one of the younger members - a year or so younger than Kouji, To-rank, hesitated.

Mizuki's eyes flitted to him. "What is it, Kiwamoto?"

"What about…the priest, ma'am?"

Mizuki set her jaw. "What about him?"

"Well, ma'am…Shouldn't we, I don't know, look for the body or…"

"That's enough." Mizuki's voice this time was harsh, cutting Kiwamoto off before he could finish his sentence. "Do not speak out of your place, understand? That is none of your concern."

The To-rank Squad member cringed, but bowed. "Yes ma'am."

He and the rest of the team Disaparated.

Mizuki took a deep breath through her nose and glanced back at Kouji. Her third-in-command held the bloody, shredded cloth in his hands, feeling the fabric with his fingers as though he had to be completely sure it was really, really real. The expression on his face said that he wished it wasn't, he wished that he had fallen asleep at his post and was now dreaming this whole horrible mess, that sooner or later he'd be woken by her own angry shouts…

"Minamoto," Mizuki sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment. "Take all the time that you need."

And she turned on her heels and Disaparated away.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Ah…AH-CHOO!"

Kouichi blinked in surprise at the sudden sneeze that had erupted from him, rubbing his nose with one hand, half-hidden in his sleeve. Draco looked at him over the smoldering campfire and smirked. "I told you to keep warm. You're getting a cold already."

"It's not like I'm not trying." Kouichi sniffed again and rubbed his red nose. He was now down to the third and final layer of his ornamental on-the-job uniform, a simple white robe that wasn't really good for much else than meditating under an ice-cold waterfall, had Tokyo that kind of natural benefits. The first layer, the tradition two-tone yukata of white and black, had been ripped off by the fox demon's sneak attack just before they fell, and the second layer had been sacrificed to make bandages to wrap the resulting wounds of that attack, and Draco's own re-opened pains.

In fact, they were now both sharing several layers, those of blood, water, bandages, and the sand that had stuck to their wet forms when they dragged themselves out of the river. Of course, it had actually been Kouichi doing most of the dragging - Draco had hit the water first and, thus, taken the brunt of the surface pressure, which had knocked him clean out, forcing Kouichi to swim them both to shore. He'd been afraid for a while that his friend had drowned, but Draco had come around just an hour before.

They had carefully and somewhat reluctantly wrapped each other's wounds to make sure neither passed out from blood loss, and were now sitting on the dirty shore, watching the dark water go by, neither of them having any idea of where they were or what they were going to do next.

So they sat at magically-conjured fire and waited. Just waited.

For what?

They had no idea.

Kouichi sneezed again and pulled his single layer of clothing a bit tighter around himself. Draco's robes were drying on the ground beside the fire, leaving the blonde boy in the button-up white shirt and khaki pants that he wore underneath. Both were shivering in the nighttime chill, and both were huddling as close to the fire as they could without being burned.

Draco blew his hands. "It's freakin' cold out here."

Kouichi smiled a bit. "It's not so bad…At least it's not winter time."

"You're _so_ optimistic."

Draco's sarcasm made Kouichi laugh. He pulled his feet up and leaned his head against his knees, wincing only a little at the pain in his back. For a long moment, the two were quiet, and the Kouichi spoke again. "So, will you tell me now, Draco-kun?"

"Tell you what?"

"Why you left."

Draco sneered slightly and turned away, glowering at the fire. "Why should I?"

Kouichi shrugged. "There's nothing better to do."

Draco was quiet for another long moment, still glaring at the dancing orange flames. Kouichi waited patiently, his head still resting on his legs, and after another long, long while of silence, his patience was rewarded.

"The bastard tracked me."

Kouichi lifted his head just a little. "That…"

"_Bastard_." Draco spat angrily, "The one my father calls Master. He tracked me here. He _wanted _me to come here."

Kouichi blinked, a little confused. "Voldemort…wanted you…"

"He knew I didn't have anywhere else to go." Draco growled, still blatantly refusing to make eye contact. "I didn't even think about that as a possibility, even though he's never stopped thinking of those…creatures he mentioned before, that world, that… whatever it was he tried to get from you before…he keeps mentioning them as a backup plan. The way he talks, it's like it's some prize that he wants but can't quite reach. I can't believe I was stupid enough to lead him right to it!"

Kouichi listened quietly, not making a movement or sound until Draco had finished. "So…You really think he's after…"

"Isn't it obvious?" Draco snapped. "He's using me to get to you and your friends. That stupid power, magic whatever you call it, you're the only ones in the world who have it." His glare deepened in a vicious form of self-loathing. "And he used me to get to it. Some winner I turned out to be."

Kouichi made a sympathetic noise. "But you didn't mean to bring them here?"

"Of course I didn't!" Draco's voice rose and then dropped again. "I couldn't… couldn't do that again. Not to you."

That made Kouichi smile, and he laughed. Draco scowled at him. "What's so funny?"

"I knew you weren't as bad as Potter tried to make out." Kouichi stopped his laughing, but the smile remained, warm, friendly and caring. "You helped me protect the shrine, and you ran away because you were trying to draw the demons off. You really are a good friend, Draco-kun."

Draco stared at him, as though the words he had said hadn't translated well. Then he glanced down, pointedly looking away from the other boy once again. "Sure, whatever."

Kouichi just smiled. It was…unnerving, at least to Draco, who stood suddenly and brushed himself off. "Anyway, we've got other things to worry about."

"I agree." Kouichi nodded, following the blonde with his eyes as the foreign boy began pacing. "We need to contact Mizuki-san…and get somewhere safe before the demons figure out that they didn't finish us off."

"There's more than that." Draco spat, more than a little aggravated. "We need to find the creep who's controlling those monsters, the Death Eater who's got a hold on them."

"Death Eater?"

"Of course." Draco lifted an eyebrow incredulously. "You don't think the Dark Lord himself would come all the way to Japan for something like this?"

Kouichi thought about it a moment, then shook his head. "No, I guess not."

"If we can take their controller out, the demons won't follow the Dark Lord's order anymore." Draco muttered, obviously deep in thought, his hand resting on his pale chin. "And there can't be that many Death Eaters in Japan…most of them live close enough to Aparate wherever the Dark Lord needs them in England, so if we take this guy out, the attacks here will stop long enough that he might get distracted…"

"You've really thought about this, Draco-kun." Kouichi nodded. "I'm impressed. So where do we start?"

A loud roar, combined with an animalistic shriek, rang through the otherwise still night air. Both boys jumped and Kouichi rose to his knees in a low crouch, ready for whatever might come, even though the following echoes made it clear that the source of the sound was very far away.

Draco let out his breath through his teeth. "That might be a good place to start."

_**TBC…**_

I mixed two anime references in to the list of stolen magical objects. Can you guess them? I'll answer it in the next chapter! Have fun with that!


	16. Shadowed Thoughts

Well, I didn't think it was THAT hard…the alchemic book was from the first HP, you know, with Nicolas Flamel? The two anime references in that list were for Yu Yu Hakusho and D.N.Angel. The card with the feather is from D.N.Angel, like the cards that Dark uses to enter the paintings in that anime. (HURRAY for Vaporeone, the only one to get that in the reviews!) The first item listed, 'the orb that replicates the Dementor's Kiss' was meant to be the Orb of Baast, one of the three items stolen by Hiei, Kurama and Goki in Yusuke's first official Spirit Detective case. (Only one person got that one, too! I can't remember their name, but congrats!)

I know the alchemic book was tricky, but I never thought people would think of Tsubasa, though…where did that come from?

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 15: Shadowed Thoughts**

"Yugure! Oh, Yugure, where are you?"

Tomoko Kimura was searching through the relatively small apartment for her son's cat. It wasn't that she was really worried that she would find the creature hurt or anything, it was just…Yugure had been her companion the past couple of days, and she missed her.

Besides, it was so odd for Yugure to just disappear like this. Normally, when she didn't follow Kouichi to work (which she had several times, and school, too, clinging to his ankles the whole way) she stayed protectively at Tomoko's side. Tomoko suspected sometimes that Kouichi asked the cat to 'watch out for mama', and Yugure would do so, showering Tomoko with adoration until her owner came home.

As such, she had been quiet accustomed to the cat's companionship and now that Yugure had been missing for well over an hour, Tomoko was starting to worry.

"Yugure-chan…" She muttered, coming to gaze out the window into the dark night streets and pulling her yukata around her to block off the chill. There was no sign of the cat, and part of her knew that it didn't mean anything good. "Where are you…?"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Harry sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, now regretting that he'd volunteered to stay behind at the shrine and make sure Kouji didn't try to kill himself or something stupid like that. Takuya and Izumi had to go on the search - they were the only ones who knew the lay of the town, without them Ron and Hermione (who knew Malfoy's mind well enough to somewhat predict where he would go) would be hopelessly lost, and Tomoki was still asleep in the far room and, thus, no help.

Harry had volunteered to stay behind out of a sense of misplaced guilt, and, despite Takuya's rather suspicious-looking and almost out of character frown when he had suggested, the others had relented.

So now, here he was. With Kouji. At the shrine. And in a very awkward situation.

"Minamoto…"

"Shut it, Potter." Kouji muttered sourly, not looking at him. "I don't want to hear it."

Harry winced, but took another step forward. "Look, I know it looks bad…" He gulped a little. "But you don't have to do something…It doesn't mean he's really gone, there might have been an accident…"

Kouji didn't speak for a long time, leaning over the safety rail of the shrine's (for lack of a better word) porch with his arms crossed sourly. He was glowering down at the grass and foliage far below him in a way that made Harry very nervous. The British wizard moved forward, just in case the guardian showed any sort of self-harmful intentions. "Minamoto…"

"I _said_ I don't want to hear it." Kouji snapped again, his voice harsher than before. "I don't want your pity, Potter. I don't want to hear it."

Harry nearly bit his tongue and winced again. He was not particularly skilled in feeling another person's magical 'aura', so to speak - that was really more Hermione's forte, or Neville's, people who were more empathetic and in-tune with other people's needs or emotions, if he could remember what Professor Flitwick had said about the trait last year - but even he could tell that Kouji's normally calm, refined, but powerful, flow of energy had been twisted into a mere trickle, a light dripping of magical energy that barely had the force to tickle.

In short, in depression, his energy had faded. Thus, it was Harry's job to snap him out of it before he took that depression too far. And before Kouji snapped and hexed Harry senseless.

The guardian sighed again, glancing wordlessly at the jacket that was sagged into a pile in the corner of the porch. The shining silver 'wolf' kanji sparkled in the moonlight regally.

"…What's the bloody point?"

Harry was startled and jerked a bit. "Excuse me?"

"I said, 'What's the point'?" Kouji snapped, shoving away from the railing almost violently. "It's a dead-end, I can't do anything, so what's the point of trying anymore? I give up."

Harry couldn't believe he was hearing this, from Kouji of all people. The only person it would have been more shocking to hear it from was Takuya…

"What're you talking about, Kouji? You've done a lot…"

"I've done nothing." Kouji snapped again. His left hand gripped the blood-stained white cloth, and his fingers curled around the fabric harshly as he spoke. His voice was rather unemotional, tinged only slightly with anger and a hint of sadness, staring at the now-dried blood and the sullied, open doors of the Yami no Jinjya. "I failed. It doesn't matter anymore."

A light dawning crossed over Harry's voice, but his voice still whispered, "Failed…?"

"Him. I failed him." There was no doubt in Harry's mind who 'He' was. "I took this job…the only reason I took this job was…to protect him. Nii-san never cared…Not about himself. He cared about everyone else first, everybody but him. So I thought I'd do it for him, I'd worry about him because he wouldn't do it for himself…And I can't even do that."

Harry moved closer, his hand hovering centimeters over Kouji's shoulder. He took a breath and brought it down slowly, carefully, comfortingly. "Minamoto…"

"Don't touch me." Kouji snarled, and Harry snapped his hand back up. He held back an impressed whistle at the look in Kouji's navy-blue eyes - no offence to Sirius's coaching, but _that_ was one hell of a Death Glare.

"Sorry…"

Kouji kept the glare for a moment longer, then turned away with a sigh. "It doesn't matter now…It just doesn't."

"Of course it does!" Harry exclaimed. He hated talk like this, just hated it - Professor Lupin had slipped into a depression similar to this for a month after Sirius had died, and several of the students at Hogwarts had similar reactions after Dumbledore's murder. Just being around them made Harry feel miserable. "Mate, snap out of it! Killing yourself over this isn't going to help anyone!"

"I'm not going to kill myself…" Kouji mumbled, not looking at him.

Harry sighed. "Well, that's good.

"I'm leaving."

Harry's head snapped up from its slack position. "Say what?"

"I'm leaving. As soon as this job is done." Kouji muttered, glaring out at the night-covered grounds. "My superior offered me a promotion in Hokkaido. I wasn't going to take it, but I'm going to now. There's no reason to stick around if he's not here."

"_He can't do that!" _Harry's mind exclaimed wildly. It wasn't fair to his friends and family, the rest of his team, to just drop everything and leave, especially in a dangerous job like that. And what about Tomoko? If Kouichi really was dead, Kouji would have been leaving her all alone!

And wasn't he jumping to conclusions a bit?

"But you don't have to decided that now." Harry gritted his teeth and tried to reason, for Takuya and the others' sake if nothing else. "You don't have to stop doing anything. You don't have to give up. It's not over, it isn't hopeless, he could still be…"

"I don't want to hear it." Kouji snarled again. "I just don't. There's no reason to hope for something that isn't going to happen."

"But we don't even know what happened to…"

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?"

Kouji was actually yelling at him, which was more than enough for Harry to snap his mouth shut so quickly that his jaw hurt from the force. Kouji's snarl faded after a second, as he leaned over the railing again and gripped his head painfully, letting go of the white cloth.

"I know, I know, I bloody _know_." He hissed harshly. "I can't focus right now Potter, for gods' sake, I'm having trouble keeping my head on straight! And it doesn't help that I keep thinking that we're missing something, that there's something we've over-looked here, something important…"

His head snapped up suddenly, as though the puzzle pieces had just clicked into place, and Harry jumped back in surprise. "Wh-What is it?"

Kouji wasn't looking at him - he was staring at the Yami no Jinjya, his eyes wide and alert. A light hiss escaped his lips. "It's old."

"Say what?" Harry blinked in confusion, but Kouji was already on the move.

"They could change it. Change it all. The way it all looks. We were wrong the whole time." Kouji snatched up his jacket, along with the weapon inside, and yanked it on before he jumped over the porch railing and ran towards the shrine, still muttering nonsense. "If they didn't check for it, I'm going to wring Kanaeda's scrawny little neck!"

And Harry, still having no idea what was going on, followed after him, and once again, he regretted volunteering for this particular job.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Can I ask you something, Draco-kun?"

The blonde paused and glanced back at the dark-haired boy with a slightly sour expression, not really annoyed, but a bit edgy given their current circumstances. "What is it, Kimura?"

Kouichi was being cautious, to an extent, but without a wand he didn't have much else to do but keep watch, which was probably why he didn't look at Draco while he spoke. "Have you ever thought about your magic?"

Draco stopped. "In what sense?"

"In a Maho-Kisho sense."

The blonde raised a curious eyebrow. "Not since that crazy Metamorphmagus's class in sixth year. Why?"

"Just curious." Kouichi was quiet for just a while longer, then he reached out again to grab Draco by the shoulder. "Can I try something?"

Malfoy's pale eyebrow lifted a bit more. "Like what?"

"Just…this."

Kouichi reached out and grabbed Draco's uncovered hand. The Malfoy jerked automatically - such sudden physical contact was rude enough in England, but in the last month he'd grown anally accustomed to Japan's don't-touch, don't-tell society. That Kimura, who was by nature reserved and exceedingly polite, would suddenly do something so completely and totally out of his established social boundaries, was more than a little shocking.

The Japanese boy, however, did not show any sort of surprise at all. He just looked at the joining of their two hands and smiled a bit. "Huh. I thought so."

"Thought…what?"

Kouichi let go and smiled at him. "There's no spark."

"Spark?"

Kouichi's smile was now almost playful. "Do you know why people in the East bow to each other rather than shaking hands, Draco-kun?"

"It's polite." Draco took a step back, then turned and started to walk again, his hand gripping his wand tightly, ready for any sort of surprise attack. "Isn't it?"

"Well, yes." Kouichi nodded, falling into pace beside his friend. He kept his voice low, but there was a bit of amusement in it. "But you know better than I do that most otherwise-unexplainable social boundaries were established among Muggles because of wizarding intervention during prehistory years."

"Well duh." As if Muggles could ever achieve any level of finesse on their _own_. They could barely keep from blowing each other apart even _without_ magic, when wizards (as an obviously magically-superior race) had been engrained with them, certain social boundaries _had_ to be established in order to keep order… "But what does that have anything to do with it?"

Kouichi was quiet for long enough that Malfoy almost thought the other boy had heard something threatening nearby. But then he smiled again, shaking his head. "I suppose the West never appreciated personal privacy to that level."

"What…?"

"When two people of opposing Kiso base types…Yin and Yang…have skin-to-skin contact, there's a certain amount of discharge." Kouichi explained quietly. "Especially through the palms of the hand, since those are the two places where magical energy most easily flows"

Draco lifted a pale eyebrow once more. "Which means…?"

"Which means that when a Yin and a Yang shake hands, there's a mild shock as the two opposing magical charges come in contact." Seeing the blonde's dumb look, he shrugged rather uselessly. "Like a mild static shock. It's just a small zap, normally unnoticeable unless you're looking for it."

"And this is important why…?" Draco was getting impatient, it was obvious in his voice.

Kouichi gave him an awkward sort of grin. "Western wizards were looking for it."

Draco stopped lifting his eyebrow, his face twisting into one of all-too-obvious confusion. After a moment, the hints started to slide together, one piece at a time. "And what does this have to do with you and me?"

"There's no spark." Kouichi said again, grinning. "I noticed it at Hogwarts, but I didn't want to intrude. Besides, I wasn't certain…but now I am."

"Certain of what?"

Kouichi's smile widened. "You're a Yin, Draco-kun. The Hat's other Yin."

A sudden noise cut the conversation off and made them both jump. Draco's wand hand whipped around instantly to aim into the shadows, trembling a bit with nerves. He gritted his teeth. "Who's there? Come on, come out!"

Kouichi bit his lip, silently cursing the fact that he had no wand. A shadow deep in the depths of the darkness began to move, its motion accompanied with the sounds of soft footsteps on the concrete. The sound was familiar, at least to their ears - wooden sandals, like the ones Kouichi normally wore with his robes, but had abandoned for more mobile running shoes.

"I think it's human." Draco muttered out of the side of his mouth. "Try to get his wand, if he has one. I'll disarm him, and you can grab it."

"Right." Kouichi nodded, his body tensing.

The figure moved closer, his wand-arm, holding said instrument, pushing into the light. Draco's wand moved in the familiar, practiced (_utterly ridiculous…_) 'swish and flick' motion taught by that loony Professor Flitwick, as the spell started its first syllables in the edge of his mind.

"_Acci…"_

Kouichi's hand snapped forward, grabbing on to Draco's and forcing the wand arm down. Malfoy snapped his head around to stare at the dark-haired boy in accusation, his mind flying…had he been Impirused without Draco noticing, was he just out of his mind, was he…?

But all of the thoughts were put out of his mind by the shocked, disbelieving expression on the priest's face. Kouichi had gone several shades paler than he should have been, staring dead ahead as their shadowy figure stepped out where they could see his face, and his lips moved in a slow, hesitant gasp…

"Sensei?"

_**TBC…**_

Because magical energy flows most freely from the palms of the hand, it makes sense that said magic should be refined through a hand-held object - namely, a wand.

This talk between Malfoy and Kouichi was supposed to go in the last story, but I could never find a time to put it there. So I figured, as long as they're alone and somewhat isolated with nothing happening to them, I'd kill time, add a little suspense (and some pages to the chapter), and give one more possible meaning to that random title I put at the top of the page in the first chapter because I couldn't think of anything else. Yes, it is going to have a point…sorry, it was pretty pathetic and badly timed, wasn't it?

If you think Kouichi's acting weird, blame it on stress, pure terror and being forced to stay up too late, which has strange effects on some people. (Like myself. I start acting decidedly drunk, even though the only alcohol I've ever tasted is during communion.)

I imagine Draco is very good at nonverbal spells, if only because Harry sucks at them and Draco is supposed to be his opposing opposite. His Yin, if you will.

Bleh…This chapter didn't go so well, once again. How annoying…I'm in a slump, I'm ready for school to start so I can start writing some good stuff again…


	17. Imposters and Investigations

Aie yie yie yie yie…I'm sorry it took me so long to update this fic! (bow bow) Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I was hoping to have this chapter finished sooner but my schedule's been so hectic lately it's been hard to catch my breath! Please forgive me, minna-san! I promise I will be faster next time! Gomen, gomen, gomen!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 16: Investigations and Imposters**

Of all the places he could be right now, this was the _one_ that Harry most certainly did _not_ want to be. Part of his mind knew that the Yami-no-Jinjya should have been peaceful and pure and somewhat relaxing, even if he was a Yang, but that purity had been tainted by the color of blood and the smell of decay. Everything in this room was corrupted, painfully soiled with death. Nothing had been touched, moved or changed-it was a crime scene, after all-which meant that Hakaishi's body was still lying out flat on the ground, and his blood still covered every inch of the tiny room.

It made Harry sick. Especially that Kouji was crouched in the middle of it all, right up next to the body, poking around with his wand and his fingers lightly.

Harry felt like he was going to wretch.

"Minamoto, what are doing?"

"My job." Kouji muttered, lifting the teacher's arm and examining it closely.

Harry shuddered, hovering back in the doorway. Normally, he wasn't squeamish about much of anything, whether it be dark wizards, enchanted objects or vicious magical beasts, but this was more than any of those - this was a _dead body_, a body that had died in horrible, terrible, gruesome way…

"This is disgusting."

Kouji shrugged unemotionally. "Comes with the territory. They call the Squad to investigate any violent, magically-related death, just to make sure that demons are or aren't involved. Lots of messy crime scenes. You eventually get used to it."

Harry gritted his teeth and summoned up his Gryffindor courage to step hesitantly out into the bloody Shrine. "But this place was already investigated, wasn't it?"

A few moments of silence, then a restless shrug. "Yeah."

"So what are you…?"

"There's something not right here." Kouji muttered in a distracted manner, gently testing the fingers and limbs of the corpse. "…The _rigor mortis_ is starting to wear out."

Harry blinked. For all the Latin he'd been exposed to in the past, he was not familiar with that particular term. It didn't sound like a spell… "Rigor what?"

"_Mortis._" Kouji muttered, enunciating the word carefully. "It's a Muggle term, not wizarding. It describes a certain condition that occurs in the body after death, when the bones and muscles stiffen as the body's proteins congeal on them. It sets in about three hours after death and usually wears out within the next twenty-four hours."

Harry groaned a bit and rubbed his temples. "So?"

"_So,_ according to the time of the attack, Hakaishi could only have _been_ dead for eight hours. Tops."

The British wizard paused a long moment, working this out in his mind. It wasn't that he didn't understand it, it was just that the idea was a bit…unexpected. "So then…then…"

"There's more, too." Kouji narrowed his eyes at the priest's face, lifting the white cover a bit to examine it. "Demons don't have this kind of magic. When they kill, it's with their claws, in the midst of an illusion, not like this."

Despite his queasiness, Harry felt drawn to investigate as well and slowly crept toward Minamoto, trying to get a better look. "Like this?"

"It's obviously a spell, at least, it seems that way." Kouji muttered, lowering the white cloth. "The Healers noted it when we were doing the initial investigation, but wrote it off as a demon illusion trying to frame the case on a human. We've never heard of a spell that would cause blood to violently exit the body on its own…"

Harry froze, his eyes widening sharply. "I have."

Kouji's head jerked to look at him, his eyes sharp. "Really?"

"Yeah." Harry licked his lips lightly. "Sn…That is, a teacher at Hogwarts… developed it years ago. _Sectumsempra_."

Kouji paused a moment longer, obviously working out the Latin roots in his head, before he finally nodded. "Yeah. That would make sense." He muttered, pulling a notebook from the folds of his coat and scribbling the spell down. "And either way, it's not a spell a demon could have used, not if it was developed through human methods. Demons are animals, they run mostly on instinct…thinking something out like that isn't their style."

"So you mean…" Harry stopped in mid-sentence to rethink what he wanted to say, then started again. "So the demons _didn't_ kill Hakaishi?"

"It doesn't look like it." Kouji muttered, straightening a bit and moving back to the door, his eyes on the ground. "And there's more, too."

"Like what?"

The Squad member didn't answer for a moment, returning to crouch down beside the body once more. He gently touched the blood-stained floor beneath the corpse's with his bare hand, lifting it back up to reveal splotches of red across his fingers. He moved a few inches further away and lowered his clean hand, pulling it away to reveal…nothing.

"What moron did we have on this job?" He muttered, scowling at the blood. "He didn't even check for this!"

"For what?"

"The blood's drier here." He muttered quietly, standing as he wiped his hand off. "But right around the body, it's still moist. That's normal when the death is recent, but if it isn't…"

"It should be dry." Harry reasoned. Even _he_, with his limited experience of what Ron occasionally called 'Muggle Crime Work', knew that. "So why isn't it?"

Kouji was quiet for another long while, as though he was calculating in his mind. His eyes narrowed and grew a bit colder before he turned to look up at Harry again. "Do you remember that spell that the Death Eaters used on Nii-san when they took him before?"

"Yeah…" Harry's eyes widened in dawning realization. "Suspended animation or something like that, right?"

"Exactly." Kouji muttered, standing. "There are a couple of spells like that, some of which make a bubble where time doesn't pass. They can be set up very quickly and they do eventually dissolve to avoid detection. Wizard murderers who want to cover their tracks sometimes set them up to distort the time of death calculations. Depending on the spell, the time-distortions can last anywhere from a few hours to a week. And that means, depending on the last time someone came in here…"

"He could have died any time this week!" Harry exclaimed, shooting straight up in realization. He took in a sharp breath and cursed under his breath. "But that means that the one we met…"

"He's missing hair from the back of his head." Kouji stood, his eyes narrowing, his hand reaching to grasp the bokuto tensely. "Polyjuice Potion."

For a split instant, their eyes met in understanding. Then Kouji was on the move again, with Harry just seconds behind him, out the door and down the street to warn of the new deductions and what was bound to come of them…

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Sen…sei…"

Draco stared. It wasn't very dignified, to say the least, and clearly not the position for a Malfoy, but for Merlin's sake he couldn't help it. Standing in front of them, his hands raised in a peaceful, friendly manner, was none other than Kimura's dead teacher. Formerly dead, apparently, since he was walking towards them now with a smile on his face.

The blonde was currently hovering behind Kouichi in a nervous manner, mostly because he was afraid that the Japanese boy was about to faint. The priest's breathing had grown hesitant and ragged, as though every gasp was lined with needles that he had to force all the way down his throat. His eyes were wide but his pupils were small, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Sensei…It…It is you. Sensei!"

He moved forward, as did Draco, but this was to block the other boy in his path. "Hold it, Kimura."

Kouichi made a light noise of protest. "Ne…Draco-kun…"

"Your teacher is _dead_." Draco hissed, his wand still raised against the adult moving towards them. "You saw him yourself, his body, his _blood_. There is no way that this is who you think it is. It _can't_ be."

Before Kouichi could say anything in response to this, Hakaishi spoke instead. Or rather, he laughed, a soft chuckle that made a shiver of familiarity run up Draco's spine. "I can see where you would get that idea, Malfoy-kun. But I assure you, that is most certainly not the case here."

The blonde hissed slightly and kept his wand sharp, now moving his hand to grip Kouichi's arm tightly. "And how so is that?"

The head Yin priest laughed softly. "It's all a matter of illusion, boys."

"Illusion?" Snapped Draco.

"Yes." Hakaishi chuckled lightly. "A deception. Trickery. Artifice."

"I know what it means!" Draco snapped. "I _mean_ what the hell are you…"

Kouichi's eyes lit up again. "It wasn't real."

The blonde turned to look at him, exasperated. "_What_ wasn't real?"

"The scene in the shrine…" Kouichi looked both hopeful and confused at the same time. "It was an illusion, wasn't it, sensei? You set it up…pretending to be dead… but why?"

Hakaishi wore a grave expression. "I do…have my reasons."

"Like what?" Draco sneered, never moving from his spot.

"I had my suspicions…" Hakaishi sighed, shaking his head. "I feared that someone…I still am not sure who, but someone within the shrine…was passing information about us to the other side. There is a large number of things that one can do when one is dead…"

Draco's wand wavered, and his mind cursed silently. Those words again, those damn _words_, practically right out of Dumbledore's mouth to haunt him, just like the blasted old man wanted!

And _why_ did he feel like he was happy with that statement? Or perhaps _happy_ was the wrong word, as he didn't really feel like jumping for joy. Rather, he found himself feeling almost…hopeful…for the first time since he'd fixed the vanishing cabinet and the Death Eaters had invaded Hogwarts.

"Are you having a problem with your wand, Malfoy-kun?"

Draco sneered at the teacher's comment and lowered his trembling, shaking wand arm to his side. Hakaishi smiled at him warmly. "Does the fact that I am able to fake my own death give you hope, Malfoy-kun? Perhaps something to cleanse your guilty conscience?"

Draco hissed again. Damn mind-reading bastards poking into his mind…And he couldn't even stop them from doing it, despite his best skills.

He didn't say anything to the man, just scowled and looked away. Kouichi, on the other hand, took a step towards his teacher with a determined, happy expression. "That traitor has to be the one we're looking for. He must have sent the demons after us. Sensei, will you…?"

"Of course I will." Hakaishi cut him off, extending his hand to the pair. "Why do you think I came to find you? You boys need to come with me now, or your lives will be in danger."

Kouichi's eyes watered lightly. From his body language, not to mention several weeks of living with him, Draco could tell he was about to embrace his teacher. "Sensei…"

"_MER-OW!"_

A ball of gleaming black fur and claws leapt through the air and between the two priests, knocking them away from each other. Hakaishi reared back with a cry of pain, three long claw marks appeared across his face. "The hell-"

"Yugure?" Kouichi gasped as the black form, now revealed to be none other than his cat, hit the ground and slide a few feet, leaving claw marks in the sidewalk. She was bristled up all over, her fur standing on end, her claws full bared, hissing and spitting, her eyes focused on the teacher harshly.

Kouichi, for a moment, was thrown for a loop. "Yugure, what's wrong with you? What are you doing here?"

The adult wizard pulled his hand away from his face with a snarl, which increased when he saw the blood that the wounds had left on his hand. "Mangy cat!" He growled, swiping at the cat, who leapt out of the way. "I'm going to wring your neck, beast!"

He swiped again, this time with his legs, and caught Yugure's back paws to send the cat tumbling into the wall. "Filthy, miserable cur! I aught to…aught to…"

He stopped, his eyes connecting with Kouichi's. His 'student' was staring at him, wide-eyed and horrified, his teeth gritted in anger. For a moment, the older man froze, then found himself hurried trying to cover up his mistake. "That is, I…I…"

"You're not sensei." Kouichi hissed, his voice laced with a definite hatred, and dove to scoop up Yugure.

The Hakaishi-impostor, his cover foiled, moved to grab the boy as he went for the cat, but just as he did a spell caught him in the side of the head, knocking him right over the crouched teen.

Kouichi smiled as he straightened, holding Yugure in his arms. "Draco-kun…"

"Don't thank me yet." The blonde muttered, grabbing his friend by the shoulder and yanking him backwards. "Get behind me, now. He's still got his wand."

Kouichi didn't have much of a choice as he was dragged backwards, so he allowed himself (and Yugure, who wasn't hurt, just hissing at their opponent) to be pulled behind the cover of Draco's wand. The blonde Slytherin spun and leveled his wand at the man just as the impostor did the same to him.

The man smirked in a way that certainly did not belong on the face of the kindly teacher. "Heh, Looks like my cover's been blown."

Draco growled again, the sound dropping low into his throat. "Who the hell are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The older wizard sneered, taking a step to the left. "Get out of the way, Malfoy, I'm not here for…"

"That's _not_ what Draco asked."

Said blonde jumped a foot at a sudden pressure and warmth over his hand. Kouichi had reached up and taken a hold of Draco's wand, his grip tight over the other boy's hand. And even though Draco knew it was impossible, knew that if he wasn't actively trying to use Occlumency he shouldn't be feeling what he was feeling. But for some reason, he could, he could practically feel the energy of emotion radiating from the other boy.

And that emotion was one he never expected to feel from Kimura: Pure, unadulterated hatred.

"You're going to tell us now." Growled Kouichi in a low voice, tightening his grip on the wooden wand a bit more. "Who. Are. You?"

_**TBC…**_

I've never actually tried to piss Kouichi off before. This is really getting interesting…he acts seriously nuts when he gets angry…

I was going to work in a scene with Izumi and Hermione into this chapter, but I just couldn't get the timing right, so I moved it to the beginning of the next chapter so I could get this one out. Once again, Gomen Nasai for taking so long! I will do better next time, I promise!


	18. Darkness Rising

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 17: Darkness Rising**

"Orimoto, _please_ wait up!"

Izumi slowed to a stop, waiting until a panting Hermione had a chance to catch up. The British witch panted heavily, taking a moment to get her breath back before she spoke again. "There isn't…any need…to rush." She panted heavily, wiping sweat from her brow. "We could miss something if we go to fast."

"I know." Izumi sighed and brushed her bangs back, slipping a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Granger-chan. I guess I got carried away."

Hermione finally caught her breath and straightened, a concerned expression on her face. "Are you all right? You're acting…kind of strange."

"I'm just tired." Izumi shook her head several times and rubbed her temples, trying to relieve the pressure building up behind her eyes. "And, well…I'm worried for Kouji-kun."

Hermione made a sympathetic noise and reached out to touch the other girl's arm comfortingly. They'd been searching since at least one in the morning, and it was less than an hour before dawn now, but still…they'd found nothing. Not even the smallest clue as to where Kimura and Malfoy had disappeared to, whether they were dead, or who their murderer could be if they were.

"Don't worry," she soothed, "I'm sure he'll be all right soon. And if we find who did this…"

"Not that." Izumi sighed. "I'm worried about what he'll _do_."

Hermione was surprised for a moment, running those words through her head until she came up with a plausible situation involving the boy in question. It wasn't good. "You don't think he'll hurt himself, do you?"

"Not himself!" Izumi looked horrified. "Kouji would never do something like that! I'm concerned about what he'll do to someone else!"

Hermione was surprised again. "Someone else…not…not Harry?"

"Not unless he says something wrong." Izumi assured her gently. "And I'm sure he's smarter than that. It's just that…right now, Kouji's like a baited wolf. Or…Or like a dog when you try to hurt the boy that raised them. He wants to lash out at somebody, anybody. And it just takes a little bit to set him off."

"Wow…" Hermione turned away, looking down at her feet. "I…I guess I always suspected, the way he acts, but I never really thought he was capable of hurting someone."

"Normally, he isn't." Izumi sighed, twisting her wand in her grip. "But when he feels like he's being threatened…him or the people he cares about…he has a tendency to loose control. Kouichi's the same way."

Hermione looked incredulous. "Kimura? No!"

"It's true." Izumi sighed a bit, sounding depressed. "You've seen it, if only just a little. When Kouichi gets mad…which, mind you, he doesn't very often, he hardly ever gets upset over anything…but when he does, when he really does, it's like he's a completely different person. I've…We've…only seen it once since we got back from the Digital World. It was when he met…his father. It only lasted a few hours, but he scared us. We thought he was never going to calm down."

Hermione's eyes widened. "That bad?"

"Worse." Izumi strained. "Since the Digital World, especially, its like his anger takes over. It's the Duskmon effect…that's what we call it. And Kouji can be the same way. His temper's just worse. I think that's why he trained himself so hard…he doesn't want to let it out either. And now this…"

A low laugh interrupted their conversation, causing both girls to jump and go for their wands. They twisted around, coming face to manically-laughing face with a silver-haired fox demon. His lips curled back to reveal sharp, gleaming fangs.

"Isn't this just a little treat?" He hissed, moving a step closer as they scrambled three steps back. "Two little witches, out on their own so late at night. Don't you know that's dangerous?"

Neither girl said a word, but Hermione's wand moved through the air subtly. Seconds later, a swirl of green magic shot from the tip and into the demon's chest, knocking him back several feet into the alley, his claws scraping along the ground.

"Come on!" The British witch gasped, grabbing her friend's hand wrist. "We've got to get out of here!"

Izumi held her ground. "That thing attacked the Shrine."

"Orimoto, please…"

"It attacked Kouichi-kun. It may have killed him."

Hermione nearly screamed - why couldn't anyone be reasonable? "Orimoto, _please_, we can't fight this thing!"

"Oh yes we can." Izumi's hand went to her pocket, but not for her wand this time. She flipped the lilac-and-purple Digivice into her hand, gripping the plastic of the device tightly. "Just watch me."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

For some reason, the look on Kimura's face frightened Draco.

No, scratch that - it terrified him to the point of wetting himself, had he been any less refined than he was. The other boy's eyes had narrowed into dangerous navy blue slits, aimed directly at the imposter in front of them, his lips curled back into a snarl that reminded Draco very much of a cornered cat. The grip on Draco's wand was even stronger than his own, even over the owner's hand, enough that it almost hurt. Especially on the face of one who was normally so calm and kind, it was…downright panic-worthy.

"I'm not going to ask you again." Kouichi hissed. "Who the hell _are_ you?"

The imposter was a bit taken aback - apparently, he hadn't been expecting this, either - but his composure slide back into a place with a smirk that seemed completely out of place on the face of the kind teacher he was imitating.

"Quite a firecracker, aren't you?" He sneered in a low whisper. "I never would have guessed. You always seemed like to much of a weakling."

Kouichi didn't falter. He'd been called worse things than that over the years by people who couldn't understand that a boy could make his way in the world without picking fights every day.

"You didn't answer my question."

The impostor smirked. "I'm not interested in answering your questions, boy. I have a job to do, and I've invested far too much time and energy to waste it all playing games with children like you."

"Children…!" Draco's voice raised slightly in offense. Both he and Kimura were over-age and out of school, there was no reason for anyone to even consider them in that way anymore…

The man, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. "And you're surprised? Fledglings like you, wet behind the ears, hardly able to hold a wand without your parents holding your hand…What else could you be?"

Kimura's eyes narrowed even more, making Draco stifle his next comment before it even reached his tongue. The imposter's smirk widened. "Ooh. What a scary look. Did your precious sensei teach you that?"

Kouichi's hand tensed over the wand to the point where his knuckles were white, guiding the wooden point on a slow, even path. Draco realized what the Japanese boy was doing at the last minute and yanked the wand up away from its target. The spiraling red spell blasted straight up into the air and burst into a blaze of light high above the city with enough force to blow a man to bits.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"What the bloody hell…?"

It wasn't Harry's words that made Kouji slide to a stop, it was the cause of the exclamation: a massive, swirling stream of red light and heat, obviously a spell, that shot up into the air and burst into a ball of scarlet fire. The Squad member recognized the attack - it was an extreme form of the Blasting Spell, illegal to teach in England but not in the East, with enough force behind its explosion to blow a building off the map.

He cursed under his breath, going for his wand and judging the distance with his eyes. "I know that area. It's too far on foot."

He started to turn. Harry recognized the familiar motions of Apparition and grabbed his shoulder at the last minute. "You are _not_ going alone!"

Kouji paused and scowled at the other boy. "Do you have an Apparition license?"

"No."

"Then stay put." Kouji started to move again, but Harry increased his grip. He didn't know what the Japanese boy was capable of, but he was not willing to take any chances. The Squad member groaned and glared at him. "I am _not_ getting Splinched because of you."

"And you think that's going to keep me from coming along?"

Kouji growled a bit, deep in his throat, but gave in. The moment was too pressing to fight over something stupid. "Fine. Hold on."

He twisted in the motions of Apparation, and for a split moment, everything was black and pressure crushed them from all directions. When they popped back into existence, Harry stumbled away, partially from the dizzy feeling and partially because Kouji had shoved him away in a desperate bid for personal space.

Harry shook himself lightly, pushing away the feeling off his brains being squeezed out through his ears. "I hate the way that feels…"

"You're not the only one." Kouji muttered, brushing himself off. They were standing in the light of a street lamp, on an abandoned street lined with warehouses, close enough that they could hear the water lapping at the shore not too far away. And that wasn't all they could hear…

"You miserable little…!"

A blast of magic shot from a near-by alley, ushering in a human form as well, a blonde. The pale body rolled in a distinct but sloppy dodge, scraping his cheek and leaving a bit of blood on the sidewalk. "Gah! Dammit!"

Harry's blood boiled and his hand went for his wand. "Malfoy!"

Said blonde looked up just in time to roll out of the way of a rather messy jinx. "Dammit, Potter, what the hell is your problem?"

Kouji advanced before anyone could say anything more, forgoing the wand altogether to grab Draco by the collar and yank him up. "Where's Nii-san? What'd you do with him?"

"I didn't do a damn thing! He's right _there_!" Malfoy shouted back, pointing a finger back down the alley. "And he's out of his bloody mind!"

Harry only meant take his eyes off of the blonde for just a second as he glanced down the dark corridor, but the strange sight commanded all of his attention. Kouichi, his arm outstretched to hold a wand…not his own, as Harry had seen him throw the broken pieces away himself…with its glowing point directly at a figure who seemed to be Hakaishi-sensei himself. The man's wand was also at the ready position, prepared for the next attack, their eyes focused on each other with burning emotions; determination for the elder, hatred for the apprentice.

Harry had never seen an expression like that on Kouichi's face, nor had he even imagined it. And he was glad that he hadn't - it scared the hell out of him even more than Kouji's death glare.

Kouji's eyes had trailed that way too, and a single curse slid from his lips at the sight: "Shit."

"I know." Harry tensed, his hand on his wand. "We need to get Kimura…"

"Not that." Kouji was on the move now, slowly and carefully so as not to draw the attacker's eye. "Duskmon is coming out."

"Huh?" Harry blinked. "Who?"

"Just shut up and come on."

Harry was quiet, but only because he couldn't think of anything else to do. He and Kouji moved slowly into the darkness of the alley, his eyes focused on the man, the Squad member's on his brother.

Kouichi didn't notice them, completely focused on his opponent, but the Imposter hissed under his breath. "Great. More runts."

"Runts?" Harry always did take offense at short comments. Kouji shushed him, but the damage had been done.

Kouichi, startled, turned around, and at that moment the enemy fired an attack. Harry shot out with a reflexive Expelliarmus, knocking the wand from the man's hand and skewing the attack. The fake priest cursed loudly, gripping his hand in pain, and Kouichi whipped around for retaliation, just as Kouji tackled him from behind.

The twins hit the ground hard, one of Kouji's arms around his brother's waist, the other gripping the wrist which held the wand, pulling it away from the other humans. The older brother was struggling just a bit. "Kouji! What are you…?"

"You need to calm down, Nii-san." Kouji muttered in a somewhat soothing manner, his grip something between a hug and a well-taught restraint. "You're letting him out, I know you don't want to do that. Just clam down."

"I don't want to calm down!"

It was about then that Draco caught up to them. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

Kouji growled a bit, glaring at the blonde in annoyance. "He's upset. Back off."

"Not him!" Malfoy pointed beyond them, down the alley at their opponent. "That one!"

The Hakaishi-imposter crouched over and gripping his stomach as though in pain, which was undeniably true, as his skin appeared to be melting right off of his face. The bones of his shoulders and hands seemed to be rearranging even as they watched, his skin growling paler as it squirmed and melted off, his hair sucking back into his head and changing colors as it did. The man beneath this mess was squirming and groaning, occasionally moaning in pain as his body rearranged itself.

"The Polyjuice Potion must be wearing off." Harry grimaced, keeping his wand on the squirming man even as the image of the priest melted away with the potion. "I hate watching this part."

"Suck it up." Kouji muttered irritably, his mind focused on keeping his brother under control. "Where the hell is Takuya when you need him?"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"…Hey, Kanbara?"

"Yeah, Weasley?"

"Do you know where we are?"

"Kinda. It looks different at night."

"…I think we're lost."

"…Damn. I think you're right."

_**TBC…**_

I know, I know I said the Digimon wouldn't appear in this fic…I just couldn't help myself. Bleh.

For those of you who are upset about cursing, I have one thing to say: Get over it. Teenagers curse. Heck, in Japan, 11-year-olds curse, including the Digimon kids. It happens. I never write anything unless I think it's in character. And, for most teenagers, 'damn' is a standard. This story marks the first time I've ever used the 's' word in a story, because it suited the scene. So if you don't like it…invest in censor software.


	19. Conflicting Sides

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 18: Conflicting Sides**

"Tempest Twist!"

Hermione braced herself, lifting her arms to protect her face as she slid back several feet on the force of the wind resulting from Izumi's attack. Or, rather, from _Kazemon_'s attack, as the blonde half-Italian had Digivolved right in front of her and was now deep in combat with the silver fox.

It was quite an impressive show, even for someone who had been right on the edge of a war zone not once or twice, but three times in little over two years. No wizarding duel or battle could have matched that amazing powers that these two creatures were able to harbor between the fox's illusion-based magic and Izumi's total control of the pure power of wind, not to mention their impressive (and nearly matched) physical prowess.

Normally, Hermione would have been mentally taking notes, but she knew better than to even fantasize about being that powerful. So she just made a point to stay out of their way and enjoy the show.

Kazemon flipped over backwards, wafting upwards on her butterfly-like wings to hover about three feet about Hermione's head. "You all right, Granger-chan?"

"Yeah, fine." Hermione brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes and blinked up at the breezy purple creature. In her right hand, she gripped her wand, which was glowing lightly with a _Lumos_ spell so that she could see through the almost total darkness. "Watch your back."

"Got it!" Kazemon flipped away just as another ball of blue-white 'foxfire' shot from the silver demon's curled palm like a deadly softball.

Said kitsune snarled, showing his fangs in a combination of anger and excitement. "Come back here, _insect_!"

He lunged, slashing at Kazemon's wings, but the Digimon twisted and caught his hands before they could reach her. Now she had the advantage, as the demon dangled three feet in the air, Izumi took the opportunity to twist him around once and throw him into the nearest wall.

Hermione grinned at the show. The only thing that bothered her was…

"'Moine!"

The British witch jumped and twisted around. The voice had come from none other than Ronald Weasley, who, for some bizarre reason that Hermione could not figure out for the life of her, given that they had gone in opposite directions, was running up the alley towards the girls with Takuya Kanbara on his heels.

"Ron!" Hermione didn't see any reason to hide her surprise.

The redhead slid to a stop just a few inches short of her toes, and reached out to grab the girl by the shoulders in overly-open concern. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hermione colored, partially out of flattery for the boy's worries, but mostly out of embarrassment that he was making such a big show out of it all. "Honestly, Ron, there's no reason to act like a gothic romance novel. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, you know."

Ron's eyebrows perked in interest. "_You_ read gothic romance novels?"

"'Zumi!" Takuya shouted, taking several steps forward to stare up at the fight. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"Fighting the bad guy!" Kazemon called down, a light grin stretching out under her visor. She twisted through the air, avoiding the foxfire once more.

Takuya looked a bit upset. "We're not supposed to Digivolve! You're the one who got it made a rule!"

"The rule is 'only in emergencies,'" the Warrior of Wing had to smirk at her own loophole. "I'd consider this an emergency, wouldn't you?"

Takuya's jaw went slack in disbelief, but the open-mouthed stare was soon replaced with an amused, almost admonishing little grin. "Why, you sneaky little witch…"

Kazemon giggled at him, then twisted away and dove back into the fight, literally swooping down to snatch up the demon and carry him, kicking and hissing, up into the air. Apparently, her plan had been to deposit him in the nearest dumpster, but the fox twisted and bit her hand before she could do so.

Takuya grit his teeth a bit, his hand curling around his wand. Silently, he cursed himself for not even _thinking_ of bringing his D-Tector with him, leaving it in the memory box in his desk at home…

"Kanbara, can you explain something to me?"

Takuya jumped a bit at Hermione's voice, but calmed quickly. "What, Granger?"

"What happened to the lights?" The girl wizard's interest was perked, even Takuya could hear it in her voice, and he didn't know all of Hermione's little quirks near as well as her friends. "And all of the muggle tools, the electronics? It's got something to do with Digivolving, doesn't it?"

Takuya was surprised for just a moment, then grinned again. "Yeah…that's it exactly. It's not really the Digivolving, though, it's just the Digimon. When Digimon come anywhere near electronics, they short out and stop working almost instantly. It goes for about a mile all around."

Ron blinked. "So what?"

"It's dangerous." Takuya narrowed his eyes slightly. "If a Digimon appeared near a hospital, it could short out the life support during a surgery. Or cause a subway accident. Or dozens of other things."

"That's why you normally don't use the Digivices here, isn't it?" Hermione pressed. "It didn't matter at Hogwarts, because there wasn't any kind of muggle technology around. But here, it could cause a disaster…"

"Huricane Wind!"

Kazemon's swirling purple and white wind flew forward, lifting the demon off of his feet and throwing him backwards once more, slamming into the wall and sliding to the ground. Takuya couldn't help it, he let out an excited whoop of a cheer. "All right! That's my girl!"

Izumi giggled and blew him a kiss as she landed, hands on her hips, and faced the demon. "Give it up. You're obviously outmatched."

"Miserable little…" Snarled the demon, rising to his feet again, his body curling into a ready-to-attack stance. "I'll show you who's…"

Very suddenly, he shuddered, as though a cold bar was running up the very edge of his spine. He turned, away from the three wizards baring wands, away from the Digimon ready for battle, and stared up at the full moon illuminating the dark streets around them.

"Master is calling…" He hissed in a low voice, and, before any of the gathered could quiet realize what was happening, the scene around them shifted, changed, and began to melt right before their eyes.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

A light laughter rose as the squirming mass of flesh and hair and god-knows-what-else began to calm down into a more reasonable form - a human. It was an older man, but not too much older, perhaps in his early thirties, clearly of Japanese decent but shaggy hair charmed a bright, unnatural red. The priest's robes were tight around his arms and legs, both of which were overly-muscled and probably supported by magical steroids. When he finally uncurled himself and looked up, his dark brown eyes were wild with an eager push for battle, for danger. This urge was reflected in the wide smile that stretched out his face like it was made of rubber.

"W-Well…" He sniggered, lifting his head and stretching out his muscles to his body's full height. "That was…fun, wasn't it? Enjoy the show, kiddies?"

Draco snarled, holding his ground and wrinkling his nose at the disgusting expression on the man's face. "I think he's out of his mind."

"Now that's not very nice!" The man cackled, staggering back a couple of steps like a drunk, then jerking back to his full height. His red hair flew in the wake of his head snapping back on his neck like a rubber doll. "Sure, I might'a given up a couple'a brain cells for little implant, but hey, there's a price to pay for everything, now isn't there?"

Harry frowned at the word 'implant'…he'd never before heard a wizard use it, in any sort of context, and for some reason he got the idea that the Muggle term wasn't quite right…

"Bastard." Kouji hissed, tightening his grip on his brother's shoulder just a bit in a safety precaution. "He's got the _Tama_. So he is the one behind all of this…"

"Tama?" Harry turned, raising an eyebrow.

"The _Kitsune no Tama_ implant." Kouji hissed slightly, gritting his teeth. "It's a magical device that was developed about a decade ago, and outlawed right afterwards. It's designed to take the place of the portion of the brain used for magical awareness and Occulmency. It's a decent chunk of brain cells to sacrifice, but the _Tama _allows the user total control demons."

"He set the demons on the shrine." In the younger twin's grip, Kouichi's body suddenly tensed in a motion of unmistakable rage. "He made them attack, to cover for him. He's the one who did it all! He killed…!"

"Nii-san!" Kouji growled in warning, pulling at his brother's arms in a strong, yet gentle, grip. "Control it. Don't let _him_ control you, I know that you don't want to do this!"

"Yes I do!"

"Feisty." The redhead grinned, lifting the wand that he still gripped in his hand. "I like that."

Wordlessly, he fired a spell of red-hot light. At the moment he did, Malfoy moved, shoving the twins backwards and snatching his wand back in one motion. A swift flick summoned a simple shielding charm, and the red blast shot off course and blew up a nearby trashcan.

The red haired man growled. "Nasty little brat. You aught to respect your elders."

"And your insults are as bad as your dye job, Kinoshita." Draco snarled back. "You're even uglier than the last time I saw you. I almost didn't recognize your ugly mug."

Harry drew his wand, stepping forward himself, but didn't push into the fight. A few feet away from him, Yugure bristled, hissing and spitting as she glared at the man in front of them. On the other side, Kouji was dragging Kouichi back out of the way, which was proving to be rather difficult, since the elder twin was fighting to get free every step of the way. The look in his navy blue eyes was literally murderous.

Kinoshita narrowed his eyes again, lowering his wand just a bit with a calculating, clam expression. "Now, now, Malfoy, why should you and I be arguing like this? We _are_ on the same side, aren't we?"

As if to demonstrate his point, he yanked up his left sleeve, revealing the green and black Mark tattooed into his skin. It almost seemed alive, and looked to be squirming even as they watched it.

To Harry's surprise, Malfoy's glare just intensified when the Dark Mark was shown. "Like hell we are." He snarled. "You attacked me."

"You were not my target."

"I didn't get these bandages from Quidditch, you moron!"

Kinoshita waved his hand dismissively. "Details, details. It all comes to the same answer. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd developed an affection for…"

"Shut _up_ already!"

An involuntary spell, without any real distinction but a lot of kickback, shot from Draco's wand and burst against the wall. The blonde grit his teeth, nearly biting his tongue, and narrowed his glare ever more at the maniacally laughing redhead.

Harry found himself profoundly confused.

Meanwhile, just three feet away but might as well being unknown to them, Kouji was still wrestling to get his twin under some kind of control. "Nii-san, please…"

"Just let _go_!" Kouichi snapped, and strained against his brother's grip in a way that could have resulted in a badly dislocated shoulder, had the other been any less skilled in physical combat than Kouji was. "I know what you're going to say, and I don't want to hear it! I just want…that bastard…dead!"

Kouji tightened his grip. "Listen to me. You're letting Duskmon control you, you're letting him out. I _know_ you don't really want to do that. Please, just think about it…what would Hakaishi-sensei would do if he were here?"

Instead of calming, the other boy lashed out even more violently at his teacher's name. "We don't _know_ what he would have done, because he _isn't_ here! He's not here because of that…that…"

"I know that." Kouji soothed, leaning forward so that the hold turned into more of an embrace. "But he wouldn't want you to lash out like this, you know that. He'd never want to see you this way, he'd never want you to do this to yourself. Nii-san, _please_."

For a moment longer, the elder twin's muscles remained tense. Then he slumped in a somewhat tired manner, sagging against his brother's hold. He sniffled a bit, not saying anything, and a few tears fell onto his robe. "You…You're right, Kouji."

Harry had to smile a bit with relief, when something new prickled at the edge of his magical aura, whatever little skill he had in sensing it, he knew that something was wrong. His eyes scanned quickly across the alley, momentarily blinded by a gleam of light that shot across his glasses because of the streetlight. Then he got a good look at the red-haired man…Kinoshita…and realized what was happening.

Kinoshita was no good at nonverbal spells, that was obvious. He was slowly sounding out the words with his lips, soft enough that they couldn't be heard, but clearly pronounced so that Harry could read ever last syllable of the curse…

Oh, bloody hell.

"Minamoto, watch out!" Harry shouted, moving. He couldn't get the wand out of Kinoshita's hand in time, so he settled for grabbing the twins (still tangled together) and yanking them out of the way, just as the Unforgivable Curse was fired.

And for a split second, everything around them was quiet.

_**TBC…**_

_Kitsune no Tama_ - Literally "fox's ball" and exactly what it sounds like. In old Japanese legend, foxes who have been granted magical abilities by Inari all have a small, plain white ball that they keep with them at all times and guard as a treasure. It doesn't glow or sparkle or radiate to indicate anything special, but if you manage to get ahold of it, the fox who owns it will do anything you want. Absolutely anything. In a similar way, this 'implant' enables control over all demons via Occulmency, sort've like the Imperious curse, which normally doesn't work on humans.

I also chose to use this version of the word for 'ball' - 'tama' - because it can also mean 'spirit', and one of the theories is that the fox keeps a portion of its spirit in the ball when it shape shifts.

Kinoshita is named after Renzo Kinoshita, a contemporary of early manga and anime great Osamu Tezuka. This Kinoshita is too much of a bastard for a first name.


	20. Little Tricks

Hm? Oooh, you people assume! There is more than one Unforgivable Curse, remember? What fun would it be to just kill somebody, ne? That's no fun, no fun at all!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 19: Little Tricks**

Kouichi coughed a few times, trying to draw in a few sharp breaths even though the force of the fall had knocked the air out of his lungs. He would have sat up by now, but he was being held down and covered by his brother, who still had an arm wrapped tightly around his shoulders protectively. On the other side was Potter, on his back and looking winded as well, his glasses hanging lopsidedly from one ear and sporting a shatter right lens. His hair had fallen back, exposing his scar to the air. Kouichi couldn't help but think that the red lightening-bolt looked distinctly like recently dried blood…

Kouji lifted his head, squinting through the hazy half-light of the dark alley. "You okay, Nii-san?"

"Y-Yeah…" Kouichi shifted as Kouji lifted his arm away, and jerked when he remembered something very important. "W-Where's Draco-kun?"

Harry sat up, adjusted his glasses, swore lightly over the broken lens, and rose into a light crouch. "Malfoy? Over there…look."

The twins twisted to do so, Kouji rising into an attack stance and Kouichi almost falling over himself to see what happened to his friend.

Draco Malfoy was still on his feet, his hands gripped tightly at his sides, his blonde hair messy and falling into his pale eyes. He had his back to them, facing towards Kinoshita, with his wand in his right hand and nothing but air in the other. His hands were curled over each other so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Kouichi sighed in relief. "Draco-kun…you're all right."

The blonde didn't say anything, and the chill that hung in the air immediately registered as something wrong. Then, without warning, Malfoy snapped around and fired a white-hot attack at Kouji, who only missed it because his training in at just the right time to yank him out of the way.

Harry was on his feet in a second, his wand ready and a spell on his lips to blast Malfoy into oblivion, when Kouichi suddenly grabbed his arm. "Potter, don't!"

"Kimura, let _go_!" Harry grunted a bit, pulling at the priest's grip. "Look, I know you think he's your friend and all, but…"

"Potter, _look_!"

It was a rather high-pitched laugh that drew Harry's attention, not Kimura's insistence, but it did the job anyway. Kinoshita was laughing, laughing and snorting and oinking in his own personal sort of twisted delight. His wand was currently focused directly at Draco, and it wasn't wavering in its aim. It was then that Harry recognized the glazed-over expression in Malfoy's eyes, the foggy blue that sent shivers down his spine.

"Imperious…" He whispered, somewhat breathlessly. "Damn."

Kinoshita giggled brightly again, making a circle in the air with his wand, and Draco lifted his wand again. "Hm, not exactly who I was aiming for, but you'll do. Little Malfoy doing just what Malfoys are meant to do…"

A sudden chill ran up Kouji's spine as his brother spoke, voice cold. "Don't talk about him that way."

"Oh?" Kinoshita turned to look at him, as did Draco's blank, sightless eyes. "Getting defensive of your little friend, hm, Priestling? You don't know him like I do. I know where he belongs…"

"Like hell you do!" Kouichi snapped, and Harry nearly fell over. Crud, he was _mad_… "You don't know anything about Draco-kun! He's not like his family, he knows he has a choice! And he can make it for _himself_"

Kinoshita laughed again at this, a high-pitched shriek that sounded more like a blast of hypersonic waves. His hair seemed even wilder as he threw his head back, a thick Adam's apple bobbing up and down his pencil-thin throat. "You really don't know what the Malfoys are like, do you, boy?"

"What…?"

"Ni-san…" Kouji warned, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. He squeezed tightly, trying to be comforting at the same time that he was warning his brother away from not very good regions of thought. "Calm down."

Kouichi's hands had turned into fists. Harry decided to move between him and Kinoshita for a little extra protection.

However, the man would not be deterred, his wild eyes sparking like fireworks on bonfire nigh. "I couldn't have picked a better puppet, you know. The Malfoys have always been lapdogs by nature, willing to roll over and play dead for anybody who'll pay for their treats. None of us have ever even considered that _young_ master Malfoy wouldn't be the same. Exactly the same as his father…"

An empty beer bottle flew just an inch from his left ear, shattering on the wall behind him and sending glass shrapnel flying everywhere. Kinoshita lifted his eyebrow at Kouichi, who still didn't have a wand, but apparently had a very, very good throwing arm.

…Harry decided that standing between them was a decidedly _bad_ idea, especially if Kouji's grip somehow wasn't as strong as it seemed.

Kinoshita smirked. "Feisty little thing, aren't you?"

"Shut up." Kouichi snapped, and his voice was so cold that it sent shivers up Harry's spine. "I already told you not to talk about Draco-kun that way. He's not like that."

Kouji swore under his breath, blasphemes so sour that Harry's charm wouldn't translate them, and, in fact, bleeped them out as though watching a television show. The young Gryffindor graduate knew enough now to realize what was going on, without a doubt: The 'Duskmon Effect', as the others had called it, was coming back, and it would be stronger than ever…

Kinoshita clicked his tongue. "Standing up for you friend. How very noble. But it's a wasted effort, you know. You can't change a creature's destiny."

"And you can't decide it for him!"

Harry caught Kouji's eye. The Squad member had his wand at the ready, hovering over his brother's shoulder protectively, resigned to the fact that as long as Malfoy was under Kinoshita's control, he wouldn't be able to stop him. He locked eyes with the British wizard for a moment, then jerked his head in the grown wizard's direction.

Harry smirked, to show he understood, and began making his way around the side of the fight, looking for a clear shot.

Kinoshita smirk and flicked his wand. A fiery, blue-green spell shot from Malfoy's wand, its burning edge catching Kouichi's arm and leaving a decent burn. Automatically, Kouji fired a white-hot version of the same spell, aimed at Kinoshita, who simply sidestepped it.

"Nice try, tough guy. But it's not happening any time soon."

"Kouji, stop." Kouichi muttered, his eyes cold, laying his hand out for the wand. "Let me do it."

Kouji moved the wand where his brother couldn't reach it. "No way. You'll do something you'll regret."

"No I…"

_ZAP._

This time a simple shielding charm knocked the attack back at the man, and Kouji pulled his brother a bit to the side. The elder twin struggled out of the grip and moved forward, his eyes cold and his body restless. "I don't want help doing this!"

"You _need_ help doing this!"

_KA-ZAP!_ Another attack, and this time Kouji had to tackle his brother to get him out of the way. He rolled back to his feet in an instant, sending a blast back that made an unfortunate nearby trashcan sprout a beautiful series of thorny vines.

For a moment, they were all braced there, staring each other down. Then Kouji smirked a bit and withdrew his wand. Kinoshita's eyes were wide with his power craze now. "What's the matter, tough guy? Giving up? Scared your brother's gonna get hurt?"

"No." Kouji's smirk widened just a bit. "This is already over."

"Wha…?" Kinoshita eyes trailed across the alley, where he saw Harry. "YOU! What are you doing?"

_ZAM!_ A white-hot lightening bolt shot from Malfoy's wand, but it was too late.

Harry rolled to the side, finally getting a clear shot. He fired a red-hot blasting charm at Kinoshita's right hand, flinging the wand out of his grip and skittering across the hard concrete. The man cried out in pain as huge, angry red boils spread all across his hand, and Malfoy was suddenly on his knees, the broken connection suddenly leaving a hole between his body and his mental functions.

In a second, Kouichi - the real Kouichi - was back, and knelling beside his friend. "Draco-kun!"

"Ki…mura…" The blonde's eyes started to clear just a bit.

Kinoshita snarled and went for his wand, but just as he reached for it, Kouji's foot came down on his wounded right hand, bursting several of the boils and making the twisted man cry out in pain. "I don't think so."

"It's over." Harry muttered, keeping his wand trained on Kinoshita's form as he carefully stepped around the grown wizard, kicking his wand away when he reached Kouji's side. "You're not squirming out of this one."

For a moment, the man looked as though he'd been caught, clutching his bleed hand close to his body. But then the smile returned, the twisted, devlish expression that stretched his thin face into something that didn't look quite natural, something that looked almost fake, as though his cheeks were made of rubber.

"Over?" He laughed, showing every single one of his pearly white, twisted teeth as he climbed to his feet. "You're wrong about that, child. So wrong. This hasn't even started yet…"

"Draco-kun?" Kouichi asked softly, putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Are you all right? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah…I hear you fine." Draco shook his head to clear his thoughts, wiping the last bit of the Imperious-induced haze from his mind. Indignation rose up inside of him, burning away the remains of the foggy curtain. How dare he? How _dare_ he…!

"I'll kill that bastard." He muttered, climbing to his feet in one swift motion.

Kouichi was right after him, though a bit more worriedly. "Wait, Draco-kun…"

Malfoy stepped forward, and just as he did, the cement beneath him suddenly melted away. Kouichi jumped forward to grab his friend's arm, pulling the blonde back just in time to keep him from falling into the melting scenery around them.

Harry stumbled, falling to the side and bracing himself against a brick wall, which sagged with his weight like a piece of cloth. "What's going on?"

"It's fox magic!" Kouichi called in warning, supporting Draco and himself as best he could against the swirling mess of chaos as the scenery around them began to squirm and change. "Animal spirits are able to…to modify to world to any extent that they want! Only other magical creatures…wizards, like us…aren't affected by outside effects like this! The magic acts a shield! Just hold out a little while longer!"

"And when is this bloody thing supposed to _end_?" Draco demanded, nearly loosing his balance again and only remaining on his feet because of Kouichi's support on his arm.

His answer came soon enough, as the sky suddenly fell towards the ground in slow motion, like a blob of paint. It stretched like putty, pulling the buildings into its distortion, a huge, bulbous mass that stretched the fabric of reality towards its apex. Quite soon, it stretched down until it touched the asphalt, where it burst like a water balloon, spilling out several figures who fell all over the ground and one who landed deftly on his feet without so much as a hair out of place on his tail.

Though the teens tensed at the sight of the demon, their eyes widened a bit as they realized that they _knew_ people among the group on the ground.

"…Ron?" Harry gaped. "Hermione?"

"Bloody hell…" Malfoy swore.

"_Kazemon?"_ The twins chorused from both sides, their eyes widening.

"What?" The Digimon kicked off and flipped back to her feet, then realized that they were both staring at her, half in amusement and half in annoyance that she had broken their little 'house rule. She grinned somewhat awkwardly. "Uh…Oops."

Takuya rolled over and laughed, rubbing his head lightly. "Well…There's a perfectly good explanation for this, really."

Kouji lifted his eyebrow with a light smirk, his hands coiling around his wand as though he had forgotten that he did not have his sword. "Explain it later. We've got other things to worry about."

"Indeed you do!" Kinoshita snickered, turning to the demon with open arms. "Welcome, my dear puppet. I'm a bit surprised. You didn't already get rid of these little brats, like I asked?"

The fox looked up at him with blank eyes, a dull brown rather than a haunting gold. "No, sir."

Kouji took a step back, recognizing this, and caught his brother's eye. For a moment, Kouichi's mind was muddled, trying to figure out what his brother was doing even as he helped the others move away from the demon and huddle into a protective group. But then his brother's voice echoed in his mind, with the familiar magical crackle of their connection:

"_Buy me some time."_

"And why, exactly, are they still alive? Hm?" Kinoshita was enjoying his little power trip over the demon, walking around him in a slow, sarcastic manner, his hands behind his back to show how unthreatened he really was. "I ordered you to _destroy_ them, demon. Why didn't you do it?"

The fox snarled at Kazemon. "The butterfly is too strong."

"The _butterfly_!" Kinoshita burst into another round of laughter. "You, the most clever of foxes in the most prestigious clan in the entire Kanto region - you were beaten by a _butterfly_? Surely you jest!"

Kouichi worked up his courage and his voice to shout at the man. "Maybe the foxes aren't as strong as you think!"

Kinoshita turned to glare at him, fire burning in his eyes. "Oh, you think so, Priestling?"

"I'd say so." Draco stepped between the two, smirking with all the confidence his station as Heir of the Malfoy line had granted him, finally shining through even in a time of crisis. "It must be pretty pathetic if it would follow _your_ orders, Kinoshita. Maybe it's missing half of its brain, too."

"Or maybe he's just not strong enough to control the fox." Takuya grinned, catching on. "He looks pretty weak to me!"

Kinoshita's face turned red, making him look like a bruised and rotten tomato. Most of the others obviously thought that the three of them were out of their minds, and the stares that they were giving made that all too obvious. "Why you miserable…little…"

"Would you look at that?" Malfoy smirked even wider and tossed his bangs out of his eyes coolly. "Looks like we hurt his feelings."

Kazemon smirked and brought her fingers to her lip coyly. "Auw, that's so sad. It's a shame the big, bad foxy can't stand up to the cute little butterfly. And here I was hoping for a good fight."

Harry glanced at Takuya, then at Kouichi, both of whom seemed to be obviously crazy. He was a _Gryffindor_, up for any challenge, but threatening and taunting the bad guy with the ability to control a homicidal, bloodthirsty demon was just _stupid_. It was something that some of the dumber Slytherins would have pulled, when their pride somehow managed to override their instinct to wet themselves in times of danger. So what the _hell_…

Then Kouichi caught his eye and gave a confident wink, and Harry noticed that Kouji was doing…something…with his wand just behind Kinoshita, where the man couldn't see. Actually, Harry couldn't see either, so he couldn't tell exactly _what _was happening.

But he'd be damned if that demon's eyes weren't regaining a very natural, crafty-looking gleam in the depths of its dull brown eyes.

Harry twisted around, going with the first thing that popped into his mind. "Of course, a _real_ man would stick up for himself, instead of hiding behind some brainless animal!"

"Yeah!" Izumi's giggle sounded strange coming from Kazemon, but then again, perhaps not so much. "Not very attractive, is it, Granger-chan?"

"Not at all." Hermione grinned broadly, immediately clamping herself onto Ron's arm. "I bet he's never even had a date. No lady would be attracted to a cowardly _thing_ like that."

Kinoshita now looked distinctly purple, giving him the image of a plum that was growing some rather long fungus. "You…You miserable little…mob of…"

"I think he's going to have a heart attack." Ron covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smile, winking at Hermione despite the blush that was painting itself across his cheeks. "Guess some people can dish it out, but can't take it."

Draco smirked, crossing his arms. He wasn't happy about working with Gryffindor, but if he had to… "Save it, Weasley. He's not worth even your trouble."

"That's it! Go, demon!" Kinoshita raged and flung his hands out, aimed at the teens with the most maniacal expression that any of them could have imagined spread wide across his face. "Rip them to shreds! As long as one of the brats is alive for the Dark Lord's experiments, it doesn't matter how many you slaughter! Go!"

The teens braced the edges of their group, Kazemon hovering so that her feet were half a foot above Ron's head as those who still had a hold on their wands prepared for the attack…

Which never came.

Kinoshita's already twisted face changed into something even more disgusting, wrought with confusion and annoyance. "What do you think you're waiting for, you stupid creature? You brainless sack of meat, you better get into gear and…"

"And what, _human_?"

The fox's human-like hands, adored with long claws sharp enough to take Kinoshita's head off with a careless twitch, folded around the grown wizard's neck. Kinoshita's eyes widened in horror, looking up at the hungry face that loomed over him, fangs glinting in the moonlight. "What…the hell…?"

"Nice thing about Squad training," Kouji smirked as he came around from behind, his wand aimed at the side of Kinoshita's head, "after all the hell of boot camp, anatomy studies, and initiation hunts, you learn some pretty neat tricks. Like how to disarm a _Kitsune no Tama_."

"Which means…" The fox snickered evilly, tightening his grip as he pulled Kinoshita back into the shadows, "that you, dear 'Master', just lost your power, and my mind is _free_…"

Kinoshita screamed, and didn't stop, struggling and reaching out for a helpful grip even as the shadows turned into something more, an illusionary portal that opened into the fox's home, where there were so many hungry kits to feed. In desperation, he turned his eyes to the teens that he had been threatening just moments before, and screamed, "Please! Please, help me! Help me, one of you, please!"

Hermione grimaced a bit, glancing at Kouji out of the corner of her eye. "You're not going to stop it?"

"Demons under the influence of the _Kitsune no Tama _cannot be held responsible for their actions." Kouji said, keep his voice and face at in unemotionally even state. "And the humans wield it are considered less than scum. It's a crime against the demons themselves, so it's only right to turn him over to their system of…justice."

Ron looked more than a little green. "They're going to _eat_ him?"

"The bastard deserves it." Malfoy sneered, and Kouichi nodded, his face as set as sharply as his brother's.

"How very kind," The Kitsune chuckled, looking up at them with a wide, fanged grin. "You're a pleasant bunch, for smelly wads of mud-folk. If you ever find a need for someone of my…unique…talents, feel free to try a call."

The only one who understood any of that was Kouji, who smirked and gave an on sort of salute. "Will do."

The demon grinned again, vanishing into the dark. For a split second, the only thing there was Kinoshita, his face twisted into wild fear, his body surrounded by layers and layers of shadow, slowly vanishing, before…

_Pop_.

He was gone. And the nightmare that he had brought was finally over.

_**To Be Concluded…**_

I'm well aware that the fogged-over eyes are not book cannon, so sue me. I just _loved_ that special effect on Krum in the fourth movie. It was wonderfully chilling…


	21. Facing the Dawn

I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out! I…don't really have an excuse. Things just piled up and I got distracted…But here it is. So I hope you all like it, and enjoy this final chapter of _Yin_.

Mental note: Outside of the wake and the fact that cremation is the preferred form of burial, I'm actually not very well-versed in the funeral customs of Japan, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along. Don't mind me if I get anything wrong, just consider it a wizard…thing…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon Frontier, nor anything related to Harry Potter. Just a normal girl with an overactive imagination, folks. Enjoy._

**Yin**

**Chapter 20: Facing the Dawn**

Harry yawned as the sun, filtering in through the not-quite-closed windows of the shrine, hit him directly in the right eye. The green orbs blinked open wearily, gazing around at the dozens of multi-colored blobs scattered around him through the fuzz of bad focus, then found his glasses and slipped them on to clear the scene considerably.

Upon arriving back in the extremely wee hours of the morning, their collective group had been so tired that they hadn't even bothered to change clothes, get out bedding, or figure out the way back to their rooms. Which is why they were now scattered all around the large main commons in various groups and states of sleep.

Ron had his head in Hermione's lap, a sight that made Harry grin, especially since the girl had her hand half-resting over his face. Not too far away from them was Takuya and Izumi, with their hands intertwined and their heads rusting on each other's shoulders. Tomoki had woken when they returned, pumped them for all the information he could get, and then fallen asleep again, stretching out on the ground besides the Japanese pair. The twins were in the far corner, Kouichi's head pillowed his arms on the ground, Kouji sitting up and still gripping his bokuto, ready for anything. And Malfoy…

Malfoy _had_ been sitting a short ways from where Kouichi lay. But he wasn't there anymore.

For a moment, Harry's mind sprung to life with suspicions. Then he realized that his blonde rival was sitting just outside the door, looking out at the rising sun, his arms crossed sullenly as he leaned against the wooden building.

Not even the least bit tired now, Harry moved away from the bunch, careful not to wake the others, and moved, barefoot, out onto the porch. Draco barely looked up at him as he did so, though when he did the expression was cold, mildly distasteful, and tired. "…Hn."

"Yeah, same to you." Harry muttered, leaning up against the wall and cross his arms. He scowled down at the other distastefully. "What are you doing out here, anyway? Couldn't sleep?"

Malfoy gave him another cold, annoyed look. "Since when have my sleeping patterns ever been any of your business?"

Harry scowled, returning to his normal state of disliking the blonde boy greatly. "Fine, then."

For some reason, he didn't leave. He wanted to, of course, but he couldn't make his body walk the few feet it would have taken to get back through the door. Maybe it was the sunset, or the early hour of the morning, or the fact that the atmosphere between them was finally so heavy that he couldn't get his arms and legs to move anymore. So the Boy Who Lived just slide down the wall to sit on the ground, perpendicular to the one he'd been disgusted with every since their first meeting, and stared out at the orange, almost liquid-like sky.

"…Nothing has changed, Potter."

Harry glanced at the blonde. "You don't say."

"I still hate your stupid guts. You're still a brainless, Muggle-loving bastard."

"And you're still a self-righteous, stuck-up little prick."

They glared at each other a moment, as intense as ever even though their need for more sleep and the pure exhaustion of the days before. Draco broke the gaze first, turning his head away with a light huff. "That's how's always going to be, after all. There's no way I could ever put up with you in my life any more than absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, I know." Harry turned his head away as well, gripping his fists around his clothes to keep from punching the other boy. "The feeling's mutual."

Draco smirked a bit at that - Harry could _hear_ the light laugh that escaped him as he did so - but it was almost a light-hearted sound, with a tinge of disappointment as he resigned to something like this. "But you know…It looks like we might just be on the same side for a bit."

Harry had _not_ been expecting that.

"Say what?"

"Get your ears cleaned, Potter." Draco snapped, still not looking at him. "There's no way I'm going to take what those bastards did here lying down. I'm sick of playing a lapdog. I want to _be_ there to watch Him die."

Harry stared, quite openly. He'd never imagined the words coming from Draco Malfoy of all people, and they weren't even wavering. Sure, the other boy's face looked a little less than confident, but Harry could almost write that off as pain from the wounds that were still half-healed on his back. "Are you serious?"

"Hell yes, I'm serious!" Malfoy snapped, finally turning to look at him. "I'm going to get my family back where we belong. Malfoys aren't subordinates, not anymore. And if I have to kill the Dark Lord himself to do it, I _will_."

For a moment, Harry had to admit that he was impressed…these were some noble words coming out of a slimy little mouth…but then Malfoy smirked again.

"And when I'm done with that…" He glanced up at Harry, his eyes revealing an expression that was almost playful, though still teeming with disgust. "I'm going to hunt you down and show you the proper respect that my family deserves."

"You…!" Harry's voice was angry at first, then fell into a bit of a laugh. He kept right on laughing, even as Malfoy's glare got colder and colder.

Finally, the blonde stood in a huff. "Gryffindor. You're all the same. You'll never change."

With that, he stormed back into the building and returned to his spot, going back to sleep almost as though to spite the other. Harry remained where he was, though he turned to follow the other with his eyes, and was about to call him back - thinking that one never knew, that perhaps they might even get off on the right foot this time - when Mizuki's harried, overworked Squad scribe suddenly Apparated less than a foot from Harry's left knee.

"Mizuki-sensei, about the contraband…"

"Shhh!" Harry hissed, grabbing the man's arm. "Everyone's asleep."

The Squad member looked down at him, very surprised, but soon blinked in recognition. "Oh…It's you. You're the young man who wanted to know about the quill belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw-san, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me." Harry winced a bit at the thought of the possible Horcrux - probably long gone by now, and so selfish to think about after everything that had happened. "What of it?"

"Well, if you're still interested, I have it here with me…"

"You _what_?!"

Harry was on his feet in an instant, grabbing the man's arm in order to haul himself up. The Squad member drew back, startled, but Harry chose to not notice. "Well? Where is it?"

The Scribe yanked his arm away and dug into his jacket, his hand deep into the Hammerspace pocket. With a light yank, he pulled it out - a beautiful, foot-long feather with an elegant curl at the tip, tied a deep navy blue and tipped with shining silver. Just looking at it, Harry could tell that it was charmed - it sparkled lightly, and the ink on the tip seemed to be perfectly fresh. A small R with a raven perched atop it was inscribed just above the grip.

"We've confirmed it at the lab - it's totally authentic." The Scribe said brightly, laying it in Harry's hand. "It's the proper age, the seal is genuine. This belonged to none other than Rowena Ravenclaw."

Harry held the quill at arm's length, giving it a light swish. Nothing happened. He hadn't felt anything strange, either, and his scar was no different than it had been before. "Did you test it for spells, curses, anything?"

"Of course we did. It's very advanced for its age." The man reached into his normal pocket, removing a piece of parchment and scanning over it. "Unbreakable, ever-inking, spell-check and optional self-writing spell for dictation…"

"But no curses?"

"What? No, of course not!" The Squad member laughed, shaking his head. "This was Rowena Ravenclaw's favorite quill, you know. Why on Earth would there be any sort of curse on it? Then she wouldn't be able to use it!"

"No, I guess not…" Harry sighed, lowering the pen, and shook his head. The pen wasn't a Horcrux. There was no way that Voldemort would not make sure that it was properly protected, with a curse or someone to watch over it…

The Squad member noticed this, and frowned a bit. "What's wrong? Is it not what you're looking for?"

Harry shook his head, a light smile crossing his face as he handed the pen back to him. All this way…They'd come all this way and gone through all of this for nothing. Wasn't that just typical? "No. It's not. Thank you though."

"I see…I'm sorry." The Squad member bowed. "I hope it wasn't any trouble for you. I would hate for something so trivial to waste your time."

Harry thought about that for a moment. True, it had been an awfully long way to travel…dragging Ron and Hermione all the way out to Japan, fighting their way through Tokyo and its bizarre wizarding culture, getting caught up in a major battle and having to deal with, of all people, Draco Malfoy…but at the same time, he couldn't find himself regretting it all. After all the stress of the Prophecy and Dumbledore's death, it seemed such a relieve being able to see his friends, to help them, hang out, and, even just for a while, enjoy even a vaguely happy ending…

He'd really missed quiet times like this.

"No." He sighed finally, leaning back against the wall with a smile. "It's no problem. No problem at all…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Himura-san rested one hand on the side of his glasses, holding them close to his nose as he examined the paperwork, then lowered them both to the desktop with a mild sigh. "So, the criminal responsible for the attacks was apprehended attempting another front and handed over to the demon plain for their own judgment, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Mizuki gave her superior a single sharp nod, her eyes narrowed into determined, patient slits.

Himura's gaze remained simple and calm, tracing from the squad leader over to Kouji, who was standing at the same attention just to his superior's left. "Do you really believe that this was a wise course of action to take, Minamoto-kun? Are you certain that this…Kinoshita…was truly the man organizing the attack?"

"Absolutely." The teen whispered quietly, not looking away. "His orders came from the prime _Kegareru_ organization of England…the ring that supports _Konton Motarasu…_but Kinoshita's actions were his own."

"And we're absolutely certain that no further attempt will be made to breach the security of the Shibuya Shrine area?" Himura's tone was firm and cold. "We've already lost one life to improper security, and put two others at risk because of a careless investigation. Are you _absolutely certain_ that this is finished, Mizuki?"

The woman glanced at her subordinate a moment, communicating silently, then turned back to the commander with one more sharp nod. "Yes, sir. Without a doubt."

"Very well, then." Himura sighed, setting his glasses down altogether, and reached for the ruby red bottle and personal seal sitting in a small drawer beside him. He folded the pages into a thick envelope, sealing the parchment with a dab of bright red wax, kept hot and melted within the enchanted bottle. He pressed his seal into the wax, finalizing it permanently. "The case of unprecedented demonic attack on the Shibuya Shrine location is now officially closed."

"Yes, Sir!" Both Squad Members saluted sharply, clicking their heels together at almost the same moment.

The man let a amiable smile come over his middle-aged face, putting the parchment to the side and folding his hands over the desk. "Well then, now that's all settled. Now, Minamoto-kun, I need an answer from you. Have you made your decision?"

Kouji kept his face carefully blank and impassive, even though he could feel the weight of Mizuki's cold glare boring into him alongside the Commander's even expression. "Yes, sir."

"Wonderful." The man smiled a bit more, motioning with one hand. "And…?"

"I won't do it."

The smiled vanished from Himura's face, instantly replaced by an expression of shock and surprise. "…_What_?"

"I won't do it, sir. I won't take the promotion, or the transfer." Kouji's voice remained even, calm and confident. He'd already made up his mind, and there was no way he was going to change it now.

But still, Himura floundered in his surprise. "But…Why?"

Kouji took a deep breath. He'd been prepared for this question, since he knew that it would come, but that didn't make it any easier to come out with it. "Kinoshita's presence confirmed something for me, sir. Something important."

"What?"

"That this isn't going to stop with England." Kouji took another breath, and his voice was a little louder now. "We can all feel it. The priests, the Squad, even the demons. We all know it's there, the corruption, the fear, the pain, and we know that it's spreading. Their Dark Lord is back, in power and in flesh, and with Dumbledore-sama gone he's not going to stop with the West. It's already spreading into our borders, onto our soil."

He took another breath and forced himself to keep eye contact with the other man, even though all he really wanted to do now was look away and withdraw like a small child. They'd never let him get away with that…

"This is going to turn into a world war, sir, and this time it will be a magical one." His gaze wavered just a bit, but his voice was firm. "When that happens, I want to be here to take care of the people who are important to me. My friends, my parents, and my brother. As long as I'm here, at home, with them, I won't have any regrets, no matter what happens."

Himura leaned forward, resting his fingers against his lips and keeping his gaze locked firmly on the teen in front of him. "And you're absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes sir, I am." Kouji let out his breath again and closed his eyes for just a moment, lowering his head a bit. "I apologize for any trouble that I may cause you because of my decision, but I won't change my mind."

Mizuki snorted, covering her mouth with her hand in a half-hearted attempt to cover up the knowing, caring smirk that had slithered its way over her face. She turned to Himura with that grin firmly in place, looking very satisfied with herself. "There you have it, sir. I told you that he would say something like that."

"So you did, so you did." Himura sighed, and began rummaging for more paperwork, conjuring up a quill with his wand. "I had hoped that for once, Mizuki, you might have been wrong, but…" he looked up at Kouji almost sheepishly, giving him an awkward grin, "I don't suppose I could convince you to reconsider?"

This time, it was Kouji's turn to smile, and it was accompanied by a light laugh. "No, sir. Not for the world."

"I thought so." Himura sighed, leaning over the new page of parchment. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped…Mizuki-san, I'm going to need your signature on several these."

"Yes, sir. And you," the turned to her subordinate and clapped a hand on his shoulder, "have somewhere you need to be, don't you?"

Kouji was, for once in his life, taken aback. "But…"

"No 'buts', Minamoto. You've been dismissed." Mizuki cuffed him lightly over the head, smirking. "Now get going, or you'll be late!"

Kouji hesitated just a moment longer, then smiled, even as he bowed to both of his superiors brightly. "Yes, sempai. Thank you, ma'am."

Mizuki gave him one last curt nod and a grunt, her standard farewell. Kouji's grin spread a bit more as he came out of his bow, automatically turning on his heel and Apparating away before anyone could do so much as blink.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The ceremony had already begun when Kouji appeared just outside the temple gates. He cursed himself lightly - stupid, getting caught up in his business issues instead of being here for his brother! - but only spent a moment on the self-scolding before he slipped quietly to the rear of the shrine.

There was a platform set there, in a wide open field that was normally meant for festivals or celebrations. Today, it was decked out for a memorial - black draperies, white flowers, photos and mementos of the deceased. Atop the hill was a new monument, a thin stone pillar about two feet tall, engraved with a respectful name and covered with flowers and wreathes.

Kenkyo stood at the podium now, dressed in a respectful, tastefully dark kimono and looking grave, but happy, as she recounted the life of her colleague without leaving out any details. The service now was a special one, one for wizards alone, separate from the public service that had occurred earlier that morning. This one was for remembrance, for recalling the magic, and for passing on the torch.

Kouji slipped into an empty seat besides Takuya, saying a soft excuse me to Izumi. Harry slid over to give the guardian a little more room - it was something he figured that he would need, and besides, it put still more room between himself and a recently-healed Draco Malfoy, on the other end. In the row ahead of them sat Tomoki, Hermione, Ron and even Junpei, who had Apparated in overnight from Hokkaido especially for the ceremony and was greatly disgruntled that no one had even _thought_ to call him during the entire incident.

Kouichi was on stage, sitting with their mother in the place normally reserved for family. He was holding onto Tomoko with one hand and gently petting Yugure, who rested in his lap, with the other. He caught Kouji's eye, and the younger twin gave him a comforting, tiny little grin, which Kouichi returned.

_"Are you doing okay?" _

_"I'll be fine…"_

_"No you won't. You're lying again, Nii-san. You sure you don't want me up there?"_

_"No…I'll do it alone."_

"Hakaishi was a gentle man, and a loving one, and devoted to his work and to his students," Kenkyo's voice lifted a bit, indicating that she had reached the end of her speech and was about to begin something new, something even more important. "Unfortunately, this means that he never branched out into the community in any other way. He never married or held a steady relationship, he was always very shy, and as an orphan, he had neither parents nor siblings.

"But it would be wrong to say that he was alone in the world."

Kouichi lowered his head a bit, his eyes hiding behind his bangs. The cat in his lap reached up to butt his arm comfortingly, and his mother squeezed his hand.

"As you all know, tradition dictates that the surviving wand must be handed down through line from parent to child." Kenkyo reached down and lifted a finely decorated, hand-crafted wooden box from the inside of the podium. "But as I've said before, Hakaishi did not have any children. There is no son to inherit his father's wand."

Kouichi's head dropped a bit more. Why did they have to draw this out, he wondered, why couldn't they just…just…

"Hakaishi had no child, but he did have someone with him," Kenkyo turned and smiled at the young boy, trying to be encouraging and warm. "He had a student, an apprentice, whom he nurtured for many long years, and loved as dearly as though he were a son. The one who will now take his place as the Yin priest of the Shibuya Shrine: Kimura Kouichi."

From the crowd, a light applause rippled through the field as the boy stood. Yugure hopped from his lap into Tomoko's, mewing in encouragement as the woman squeezed her son's hand. Kouichi smiled at them, took a deep breath, and moved to the podium slowly.

Kenkyo gave him a soft, supporting smile, turning to him and opening the box slowly. Inside, resting safely within folds of soft purple cloth, was the graceful white wand, cleaned of its stains and waiting to be claimed. The boy's blue eyes flicked to it and stayed there, holding his breath a moment - there were so many memories connected with that wand…

"Will you take it?" Kenkyo asked softly, her voice dropped down so that no one could hear but the one before her. "I'm sure that Hakaishi-sensei would have wanted you to have it."

Kouichi looked up at the woman for just a moment, gave her slight smile, and reached for the wand. It responded to his touch as easily as his original one had, fitting into his grip and sending a pleasant chill up his arm as the core touched base with his magical aura. He lifted it from the box carefully and gave it a light flick.

A shower of black sparks came from the wand, leaving a trail of glimmering specks through the air. A whistle came from the crowd - Takuya - and the applause picked up harder than it had before.

Kenkyo clapped as well, moving a little closer as he lowered the wand. "The torch has been passed. Welcome home." She said for ceremony, leaning forward to pull the boy into a hug. She dropped her voice down and whispered into his ear, "He'll always be with you now."

Kouichi smiled a bit, for real this time, and hugged the woman back. "Thank you."

The crowd was standing now, the ceremony finally over, but the applause was still going. Kouichi pulled away from the embrace, bowed to the woman, and turned to his friends, most of whom were jumping onto the stage to get to him. His smile became a little wider, and a little more real.

He slipped Hakaishi's wand…his wand…into the safety of his pocket and ran to meet them, smiling all the way.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - ) **

"I don't suppose we could convince you guys to stay a little longer?"

Harry grinned at Izumi's words, but shook his head and adjusted the Hammerspace bag over his shoulder. "I think we'd just attract more trouble."

"You? Nah!" Takuya laughed brightly, putting his arm around the girl with a big grin. "As if you three could bring anything down that we're not able to handle?"

"You wanna bet on that?" Ron asked, reaching for his wallet in a joking manner.

Hermione gave him a rather rough elbow to the side, pushed a smile onto her face, and bowed to three friends who had come to see them off. "Thanks for everything, really. All your help and everything."

"Help?" Tomoki grinned as well. "You're the ones who helped us! It's usually not like that around here, Tokyo's pretty peaceful for us magic-types."

"Though I'll be damned if it stays that way…" Everyone paused a moment to take in the seriousness of Takuya's otherwise joking statement, and for a moment it hung over everyone like a blanket. But the tension only lasted for a moment before the brunette grinned again. "Next time, you guys have got to stick around for a real game. If you thought that scrimmage was fun, what'll you see us during the regular season!"

Harry laughed as well, and it felt good to do so. "Yeah. We'll make sure to do that."

The ticket in his pocket made a high-pitched shrieking noise and vibrated, the signal that the wizarding train back to England was making its final preparations and about to board. The others had heard it, too, and were just gathering their things. Harry sighed a bit and looked up and down the airport for familiar faces.

Izumi said what he was thinking before he could finish, sighing as she pulled away from hugging Hermione. "It's too bad that Junpei and the twins couldn't be here to see you guys off."

"Well, they already said their goodbyes. Besides, that's how work goes." Hermione winked at the other brightly and patted her shoulders. "Take of yourself, okay?"

"You got it." Izumi grinned back. "And you take care of these boys, won't you? They _somebody_ to watch out for them."

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?"

Harry muffled another laugh and shook his head, patting his friend's shoulder complacently before moving to extend his hand to Takuya. The Japanese boy grinned bright and shook it, perhaps a little harder than he needed to. "Good luck, buddy. You know, with…whatever."

The Boy Who Lived just smiled a bit as he backed off, offering his friend a small, awkward boy. "You too. With everything."

A whistle echoed from his pocket, calling them to the train. Harry grabbed his bag again, hoisting it over his shoulder, and gave the Japanese trio one last wave before running after Ron and Hermione. Tomoki, Takuya and Izumi were still waving until he reached the end of the terminal and they finally disappeared from sight.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouichi used a brush to clean a day's worth of dust from the gravestone, lighting a fresh stick of insense as soon as it was clean enough to do so. The smoke from the little stick of warmth was oddly shadowed in the light of the setting sun that framed the gravestone. Naturally, the dead priest had been buried facing the east, so that his spirit would be free to watch over the shrine that he loved so much and make sure that every new day and every new dawn would bring nothing but peace to his home.

Kouichi sighed a bit at the thought, running his hands over the deep engravings of his teacher's name. The wand he had inherited still rested safe in a special pocket of his robes. He hadn't used it yet, though he knew that he would have to, soon. He was taking over instructing the Yin classes on Monday.

"Sensei…" He whispered to the ashes hidden below the stone. "I'll do everything I can to help those kids. I won't forget what you taught me, either."

A footstep crunched against the ground behind him. Kouichi turned, a little tense, but relaxed when he saw who it was and straightened with a smile. "Draco-kun."

The blonde gave him a light smirk, pulling a bag over his shoulder. His wounds had been cleared by one of the medical wizards from the Squad, once they'd been reopened so many times that Kouichi was worried he would bleed to death. They had treated him as though poisoned by a demon, and it had worked wonders.

Kouichi nodded to the bag. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"This late at night?"

Draco rolled his eyes up to the orange sky. "I've got a ticket for the Night Bus. Two transfers to make it back to Wales, but I should home by tomorrow."

"The Night Bus?"

"Yeah. I've never used it before. Father thought it was too common."

Kouichi laughed at the thought, and for a while that was the only sound. There was silence after he'd stopped, an awkward sort of pause as the two boys shifted their eyes to various sides, searching for something to say. The priest's eyes drifted back to the headstone and rested on the name sadly. Draco noticed, and his eyes softened.

"There's something really bothering you."

Kouichi glanced at him, only with his eyes. "Are you looking into my mind?"

"I don't need to. It's all over your face."

Kouichi chuckled just a little bit at the comment, but it was half-hearted. "Yeah…I guess it would be, wouldn't it?"

He turned to the headstone, placing his hand atop the cool black stone. His eyes were misting, threatening to spill tears down his cheeks, so he focused on his own hand to push them away. He sighed, closing his eyes as he tried desperately to think. "Kinoshita…he went through Sensei's journals. Through his personal files."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Kouichi's voice wavered a little, and his hand pressed tighter over the stone. "Sensei was…slightly precognitive. It's a traditional skill for priests, you know. He used to have dreams of the future, with animals representing the people he knew. And every time he dreamed of a black cat…it was always me."

He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath, steadying himself. Draco didn't say anything. He just waited, completely still, without a word, and listened to what the other had to say. It was something that he, all too obviously, needed to get off his chest.

"Just before the demons attacked us…just an hour before…I thought Sensei told me that he'd dreamed of a black kitten being murdered by a fox while trying to protect a yellow bird." Kouichi's voice had dropped to a whisper, wavering, uncertain. "I was so sure…so ready to go through with that dream, if I had to. The whole time, I really, really thought I was going to die…"

He looked back at Draco, his eyes very sad. "But, according to Kouji, Sensei had already been dead for a week before I heard that."

Draco hesitated a moment, faltering. "Kimura…"

"Those dreams were so special to us. To me and Sensei." Kouichi rubbed his eye, pushing tears out and instantly absorbing them into the cloth of his robe. "He never told anyone but me that he saw me as a cat. It was our secret, our bond. Even Kenkyo didn't know.

"That bastard Kinoshita…He used that against me. He twisted it into something it wasn't…like it wasn't even important."

Draco bit his lip, not knowing what to say. Dealing with other people's feelings had never been his strong point. Normally, the only thing he was really good at was manipulating other peoples' emotions to meet his own ends. But that wouldn't do him any good now. He didn't want to hurt Kimura any worse than the priest was suffering already, not after everything that he had already put him through…but what else could he do?

"Kinoshita…Got what he deserved."

Kouichi looked a little surprised. Then he nodded a bit, the corners of his lips turning up just ever so slightly. "Yeah…He really did."

He ran his hand down the gravestone, his fingers slipping into the strokes of the first kanji, and smiled to himself sadly. "I'm going to do my best…to make him proud of me."

"I know that you will."

Kouichi smiled at his friend thankfully, turning back to face him completely. "What about you? What will you do now, Draco-kun?"

"Go home." Draco shrugged lightly and stuffed his hands into his pockets. His face was focused, cold and determined. "I'll slide back in and beg for his forgiveness, work my way back into his ranks. It may take me a while, but I'll figure out his weakness. Potter already knows…I can tell…but I'll figure it out on my own. I'll show them who has the real power now."

Kouichi nodded, but he looked worried. "Will you really be all right, Draco-kun? Won't He find out?"

"Not if I can help it. I've been practicing." Draco tapped his right temple with one finger smartly. "Not even the Dark Lord can break in here, now. I'm sure of it."

"I hope so…" Kouichi sighed a bit and looked down, just for a minute. He was smiling again when he lifted his eyes. "You know that you've got friends here, Draco-kun. No matter what you get yourself into, the Shrine's doors will always be open."

Malfoy smiled a bit more. He pulled his hands from his pockets, stretching out his right arm, and rolled up the sleeve to expose the green and black Mark on the inside. "The next time I see you, I'll expect you to know how to burn this piece of crap off."

Kouichi chuckled a little. "I'll have to study a bit more for that."

"See that you do." Draco pushed the sleeve back and turning around. He gave a light wave over his shoulder. "See ya around, Kimura."

Kouichi followed him, but paused at the top of the hill. He stood at the top of the stairs and watched as his friend decended quickly and quietly, all but disappearing into the dark. When he reached the bottom, Kouichi found his voice again and called out: "I will be here, Draco-kun. No matter what happens, I'll never forget. You'll always be my friend."

The pale figure paused, still looking out past the gates to the street. His blonde hair and thin figure stood out like a beacon against the darkness of the night, almost glowing with the reflection from the streetlights and cars as they went by. For a moment he just stood there, listening to the night, and then he slowly turned and smiled up at the priest.

"Yeah. Me too."

And with that, he stuck out his wand and disappeared into the night once more.

**Yin - End**

Well...That's it, folks. Finally. The end of Yin. Hope you enjoyed it, and make sure to leave a review. Oh, and if you're fond of this, please read my other Digimon Frontier crossovers. There's _The X-Evolution_, which crosses with X-Men: Evolution; _Balance,_ a cross with the new manga/anime series Loveless, and _Kingdom of the Elemental Hearts_, my most detailed story yet, which includes the side story _Inside/Outside_ and possible more, soon. Until next time...

Gemini Star out.


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